Return to Wyldcliffe Heights: A Novel by Carol Goodman
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Web ID: 19875850Gothic and Eccentric
Who is Veronica St Clair? Is she more than what her fans see in her first book and a book that makes everyone want a sequel? When Agnus is about to lose her job at the publishing company she works for, she does a forbidden thing. She writes to Veronica St. Claire and asks if she would write a sequel to her very popular first book. She didn’t expect her to reply. She expected Veronica to write back and have her boss “fire” her. She didn’t care because she was losing her job anyway. Much to her surprise Veronica hired Agnus to stay at Wyldcliffe Heights and write the sequel. She was required to record as Veronica dictated and then type up everything on a manual typewriter. Nothing was to be out in cyberspace. What a place Wyldcliffe Heights was. It is as Gothic and eccentric as the author herself. I enjoyed meeting Veronica and hearing her story even though it was a bit confusing at times. I also learned a new word: amanuensis. So you don’t have to look it up, it means - a literary or artistic assistant who takes dictation or copies manuscripts. (Definition taken from Oxford Languages online dictionary - https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/) ENJOY if like surprise endings and a bit of paranormal!! 4/5 Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
OK
It was Ok, not my favorite book by the author and would give it 2.5 stars. I usually fall in love with the characters and love getting to know them. This one not so much. I had a hard time getting into the story. With all the different characters and timelines, I felt confused at times. I kept forgetting that Agnes's story was actually happening in present time. It didn't seem that way at all, except for the Apple computer and iphones. Nothing good ever happened at Wyldcliffe Heights. Would Veronica's dad have been able to get away with everything he was doing? Veronica and Jayne lived Josephine and Bess's story. Why did Agnes suffer with the nightmares and visions? She was prone to sleep walking and waking up in strange places, not to mention the scratching of herself at night. I didn't see the twist coming at the end. The best part of the book when the truth was finally revealed about Veronica, Jayne and what really happened to Bess. Definitely recommend giving the book a try. I usually love Carol Goodman's books, but this one just wasn't for me. With all her books, after I read them I want to visit the Hudson Valley. Look forward to reading more books by the author. I received a complimentary copy of this book from William Morrow through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A Haunting Gothic Mystery
Since she was a child, Agnes Corey has been enthralled with Wyldcliffe Heights, a novel by the elusive Veronica St. Clair. So when she is given the opportunity to go to the real Wyldcliffe Heights and help Veronica with a sequel, she jumps at the chance. But quickly, Anges starts to be haunted by the home, and her past comes back to haunt her in Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman. Agnes Corey had a rough childhood and bounced from foster home to foster home, running back to her mother at every chance she could. After leaving juvenile detention, Agnes is determined to follow her dreams of joining the publishing world. Finally given a chance at Gatehouse Books, she is ready to prove herself. But when Gatehouse Books starts to go under, Agnes takes a chance. She writes to her favorite author and Gatehouse writer, Veronica St. Clair, begging for a sequel to Wyldcliffe Heights. To her surprise, Veronica responds, requesting Agnes join her at the real Wyldcliffe Heights and dictate a new novel. Agnes jumps at this chance but is quickly haunted by demons—from nightmares to seeing people around the house—Agnes starts to feel the house is invading her mind. As Veronica’s story begins to unfold, Agnes learns more about Wyldcliffe and sees that danger has not left this home. I love a good gothic mystery. Goodman perfectly nailed the haunting beauty of a good gothic story, allowing the home of Wyldcliffe to become a character in and of itself. Giving us a glimpse into Agnes’s mind provides us with the feeling that we may not always be following a reliable narrator, something Agnes feels herself at times. The mystery was fun, and it was interesting to connect the story Veronica is telling to Agnes’s own foggy past. I did find that the ending became a little convoluted, but not enough not to enjoy the story. I wish there was a bit more at the beginning that could have connected the ending in a more enjoyable fashion. Return to Wyldcliffe Heights is a haunting gothic mystery that leaves you questioning everything and everyone. Be prepared to lose yourself in the fog of Wyldcliffe Heights. ~ Tierney for Novels Alive
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Losing oneself in a book can be dangerous.
Agnes Corey had an unusual and rather traumatic upbringing, going from life with an unstable mother to the foster care system, and ultimately being an inmate at an institution for juvenile offenders. She got her college degree from SUNY Potsdam and dreamed of working in publishing in NYC. Her mother did instill in her a love of reading, particularly for a modern gothic megabestseller of the 1990’s called The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights, and after working as a teacher at the same institution where she had spent several years as an inmate to accumulate savings, she heads to NYC. There she finds that being a graduate of a middling public university and from very modest beginnings is not going to open any doors for her at the major publishing houses. After multiple rejections, she lands a job at Gatehouse Books, the very small independent firm which is the publisher for her favorite book….The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights. The author of that novel, Veronica St. Clair, has never written a sequel despite pleas from her multitude of devoted fans, and lives in seclusion in a small town on the Hudson River, Wyldcliffe-on-Hudson, in her family house…Wyldcliffe Heights. She survived a fire at the house which killed her father, who was running a psychiatric facility there, but was left blind and with damaged lungs. Agnes’ job at Gatehouse has been to sort through Veronica’s fan mail and pass along via the post all complimentary ones to Veronica. When she is summoned to the office of Kurtis Chadwick, the publisher in chief at Gatehouse, and told that the firm is in dire financial straits and she will need to be let go, she is panicked. She breaks protocol and pens a note directly to Veronica, adding her own plea for a sequel, suggesting that Veronica perhaps dictate the story to a sympathetic reader. She fully expects that violating the rules in that way will end her employment with Gatehouse quickly and with ill feelings, but instead Veronica tells Chadwick that she will do what Agnes proposed….with Agnes as her listener/transcriber, her “amanuensis”. And so the vulnerable and somewhat naive young woman ends up at the creepy, secluded stone mansion on a cliff, with a disapproving housekeeper devoted to the lady of the house, a surly groundskeeper, and the woman who wrote a fictionalized story of her own life that has obsessed young women for decades. How much of the novel was fiction, and how much was true? What happened to the fictional best friend (Jayne) of the Veronica character (Violet)? A female ancestor who tried to help disadvantaged women including a convicted murderer, the father who used the women in his care to explore his fascination with past life regression, and more disturbing facts and legends surround Wyldcliffe Heights. Before long, Agnes finds herself entranced by the stories that Veronica is dictating, less a sequel to the book than a retelling from Violet’s rather than Jayne’s point of view….and she may be losing her own grip on reality. An interesting take on the classic gothic tale, with a protagonist who is naive but not quite an innocent and the mysteries of three different women….Veronica, her grandmother Josephine, and Red Bess…intertwined in a plot that includes a domineering father, a group of goth teenagers in 1990’s NYC, and a house that at various times has been a Magdalen refuge, the site of a progressive attempt to turn young women from rough lives into solid citizens, and a psychiatric treatment facility. I have enjoyed many of author Carol Goodman’s previous novels, and while I was intrigued by the premise of this one I didn’t love it. Too many threads competing for attention, maybe, and characters who didn’t completely engage my interest. Still a quick and enjoyable read, one that could appeal to readers of authors like Cate Quinn, Alyssa Cole, and Gilly Macmillan, as well as to those who love a good gothic tale. Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks for allowing me access to an early copy.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Haunting Thriller
Carol Goodman had created a haunting thriller set in shrouds of mist and the smoke from a long-ago fire. When Agnes Cory, a young copy editor, slips her own letter to author Veronica St. Clair in the correspondence her struggling publishing company sends regularly to their most famous author she does not expect a response. She is simply one of Veronica’s many readers who longs for a sequel and a conclusion to Veronica’s famous and only book, The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights. She is astounded when Veronica reaches out and agrees to a sequel, but only if Agnes comes to Wyldcliffe to be her transcriptionist. Agnes is soon immersed in the historic mysteries of Wyldcliffe and its many incarnations and starts to discover long buried secrets. As she transcribes, she delves into the past of Veronica, Wyldcliffe, Jayne and the infamous Red Bess, and soon realizes all is not as it seems. She fears for the safety of Veronica and realizes she may be in danger herself. The author has brilliantly woven together the past and present in a completely immersive book that kept me enthralled from beginning to end. She has created memorable characters, as well as a complex, twisting plot in this excellent gothic thriller! I thoroughly enjoyed the book! The opinions of my review are my own.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com