The Library Thief- Kuchenga Shenjé (Sphere 2024)

philshanklin

April 4

I've read a number of Gothic-tinged historical novel debuts over the last few years. Titles that spring to mind are "The Beholders" by Hester Musson (2024), "The Animals Of Lockwood Manor"- Jane Healey (2020), "The Confessions Of Frannie Langton" – Sara Collins (2019), "Theatre Of Marvels" – Lianne Dilsworth (2022) and my favourite of all "The Wicked Cometh" by Laura Carlin (2018). These books appeal to me as a reader. I like the darkness which gradually reveals itself from beneath a thin veneer of respectability. They often have a nod towards the work of The Brontes, Daphne Du Maurier and/or Sarah Waters and some of these have been strong in depicting characters who would have had to operate on the fringes of society who find themselves plunged into disturbing situations. This can mean characters offering a Black British and/or LGBTQ+ experience.

These factors are present in Kuchenga Shenjé's debut. It doesn't feel quite as embedded in the history of the times as some of the above but we do have outsiders placed in an atmosphere which becomes increasingly twisted. This is an effective and satisfying mystery novel. Rose Hall, a large house in the Lake District sounds respectable enough and it is the place main character Florence Granger chooses to provide a temporary place of escape. Her father is a bookbinder and she has absorbed enough of his skills to repair the book collection in Lord Belfield's library. Belfield's wife Persephone died in mysterious circumstances and the grieving Lord has reduced his staff to just a cook and a manservant. Florence joins them for a temporary live-in assignment to prepare the books for sale, but what are the secrets the houses, the staff and the Belfield family are hiding?

Good characterisation, good pace with things that we've encountered in those other Gothic debuts alongside fresh perspectives which makes this a very readable debut for which there should be an appreciative audience. I actually really enjoyed the details of the bookbinding work before the delicate twists of the plot start to be revealed.