This is a ghost story which has its roots in the First World War. Lawyer James Allenby has inherited Langrick Manor, a gothic mansion forsaken by all and reputed to be haunted. On visiting the Manor, James finds his presence is vilified by the villagers who live nearby. Why don't they welcome his plans to bring the house back to life? Why do they even question whether he is legally entitled to it? What of the stories of betrayal, insanity and illegitimacy during the First World War? What has a drowning in 1916 got to do with him? And should he laugh off tales of a malevolent spirit stalking its shadowy corridors, ready to wreak vengeance for the sins of the past? Forced back to the dark days of the war and its immediate aftermath, James discovers that the answers threaten much more than his ownership of the Manor.
Paul Carlin was born in 1960. He divides his time, as far as possible, between home in Nottinghamshire and France. ‘A Soldier's Return' is his first novel.
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A Soldier’s Return by Paul Carlin is an absolutely fantastic and compelling dual timeline novel that gripped me from the start. It is set in 2014 and from 1914 during World War I in an old manor house.
Paul Carlin draws the reader in from the start as there is an air of mystery and menace that has the reader asking questions – why do the villagers want nothing to do with the old house? The manor house holds its secrets and we want to know the answers.
1914 was a bygone age of masters and servants. Society was still very much class based. Morals and values were definitely slanted towards the upper classes. The lower classes must do as they were told or suffer the consequences.
War was terrible. World War I produced cannon fodder using young men on both sides. “The men they were fighting, the men they were raining bombs on, were no different to them.” Strip away the uniforms and the men were all the same. Paul Carlin has captured the horrors of World War I with his full descriptions.
Many men fell in France. Those who did come home, had often left their minds on the battlefield. There was a whole generation of women without their menfolk as Pals battalions decimated their home towns.
Grief can drive people out of their minds and cause them to do unthinkable things. This reader was shocked by the turn of events.
Paul Carlin writes employing the gothic horror tradition as buildings become particularly menacing at night. The darkness allows those with active imaginations to run wild.
An age-old superstition still abounds in the village. Surely by 2014 it is time to lay the old stories to rest.
The characters were well drawn and realistic, eliciting a variety of responses from me.
The Soldier’s Return was a totally gripping read but not one to be read in isolation or darkness!
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
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A Soldier’s Return by Paul Carlin is an absolutely fantastic and compelling dual timeline novel that gripped me from the start. It is set in 2014 and from 1914 during World War I in an old manor house.
Paul Carlin draws the reader in from the start as there is an air of mystery and menace that has the reader asking questions – why do the villagers want nothing to do with the old house? The manor households its secrets and we want to know the answers.
1914 was a bygone age of masters and servants. Society was still very much class-based. Morals and values were definitely slanted towards the upper classes. The lower classes must do as they were told or suffer the consequences.
War was terrible. World War I produced cannon fodder using young men on both sides. “The men they were fighting, the men they were raining bombs on, we're no different to them.” Strip away the uniforms and the men were all the same. Paul Carlin has captured the horrors of World War I with his full descriptions.
Many men fell in France. Those who did come home had often left their minds on the battlefield. There was a whole generation of women without their menfolk as Pals battalions decimated their home towns.
Grief can drive people out of their minds and cause them to do unthinkable things. This reader was shocked by the turn of events.
Paul Carlin writes employing the gothic horror tradition as buildings become particularly menacing at night. The darkness allows those with active imaginations to run wild.
An age-old superstition still abounds in the village. Surely by 2014, it is time to lay the old stories to rest.
The characters were well-drawn and realistic, eliciting a variety of responses from me.
The Soldier’s Return was a totally gripping read but not one to be read in isolation or darkness!
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