Wednesday, October 28, 2026

The Death of Jane Lawrence

 

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling, 362 pages.

Jane marries Dr. Augustine Lawrence out of convenience, and if he has an odd condition or two that's no more than she had when she proposed the strange arrangement. Augustine says he must spend every night at his family's crumbling estate, and she must never sleep there. This arrangement is almost immediately broken, and Jane is quickly pulled into the strange and terrifying mysteries of Lindridge Hall, where she learns that her husband is not what he seems, and neither is the world.

This was a delightfully unsettling gothic novel. The synopsis listed Crimson Peak as one of its big inspirations, and there is a lot of that here, especially in atmosphere. However, Starling also engages very consciously with the genre, and plays on expectations about classic gothic novels to subvert them. I was very impressed by this book, even if the end lost me a little. I would still recommend it wholeheartedly, especially for fall. 

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