Some novels are immersive. I get lost in character or story or action. I get caught up world building. Rarely do I get caught up in scenery or setting of a novel. When it does happen, I love it. It’s always a joy to be surprised by a novel, especially when you read as much as I do. The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong was a novel where I got lost in the scenery and setting. It was unexpected and delightful. I wasn’t prepared for how much I was going to be immersed in this lovely novel, and I’m now a fan of Jess Armstrong.
Disclaimer: The publisher provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Any and all opinions that follow are mine alone.
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TL;DR
The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is an atmospheric debut set in 1930’s Cornwall. It’s a wonderful setting with interesting characters. Highly recommended.
From the Publisher
An atmospheric gothic mystery that beautifully brings the ancient Cornish countryside to life, Armstrong introduces heroine Ruby Vaughn in her Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut, The Curse of Penryth Hall.
After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She’s always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.
A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn’t believe in curses—or Pellars—but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn.
To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.
Review: The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong
Ruby Vaughn’s life after World War I is a hedonistic party-filled time. She is a woman who enjoys the visceral pleasures of life. When her employer sends her to Cornwall to deliver a box of books, she’s sent to a village where her friend – someone she loved – currently lives with her husband. Ruby decides to visit her friend, Tamsyn, despite the painful memories it brings up. After a contentious dinner, Ruby stays the night and is visited by a strange, realistic dream. She’s woken up by bells to find that Tamsyn’s husband lies dead in their orchard. The housekeeper says it’s the work of a curse, and the curse’s next victim will be the wife, Ruby’s friend Tamsyn. The local police officer comes and brings with him the local witch/healer/mystic, Ruan Kivell. Ruan, you see, is the seventh son of a seventh son, which makes him a Pellar, and he’s also the recipient of Ruby’s delivery. The Pellar is a position of respect within the village; he’s associated with the mystical side of life. In fact, he’s known for arranging marriages that work and last. He also believes that Ruby is in danger as well. Together, they have to figure out who killed Tamsyn’s husband and dispel the rumors of the curse before something happens to Tamsyn or to Ruby.
The Curse of Penryth Hall is a first person novel told from Ruby’s point of view. It’s a novel that relishes in the scenery and the history. The pacing is a bit uneven but not enough to drag me out of the story. The scenery, the characters, and the language all create a truly atmospheric novel that is a joy to spend time with.
Atmospheric Setting
I’m not big on scenery because I have a harder time visualizing scenery more than, say character description or action. That said, Armstrong’s descriptions had me visualizing village life in 1930’s Cornwall. In addition, the action, the character’s speech patterns, and wonderful choices in detail pay off. I tried hard to think of a different description other than atmospheric, but really, it’s the best way to describe this novel. For a debut novel, this means I’ll be checking out whatever Armstrong writes next.
As you may imagine, I, a Midwestern American born in the late 70s, don’t know for certain what life was like in a small village in 1930’s Cornwall, England. Armstrong’s novel feels correct; it feels truthful. It’s a joy to read.
Ruby Vaughn & Ruan Kivell
Characters are what I cherish most in most novels. Here, I love the atmospheric setting the most, and closely following behind that are the characters. Ruby Vaughn is a woman that parties, that has a love life, and that lives her life for pleasure as we meet her at the beginning of the novel. As the novel progresses, we learn the deeps of who she is. She’s a hurt person for many reasons. First, she was shunned by her society in the U.S. for reasons that men are celebrated for. Next, her parents and sister are dead. Moreover, she was an ambulance driver in WWI and has all the associated trauma from that. Finally, she was hurt by Tamsyn, deeply hurt. She has a knee-jerk contrarianism that is annoying at times and that may be a protection mechanism. Keeping others at distance is a way to protect oneself from the pain of loss. I’d love to know if she was that way prior to all the trauma she experienced. Despite her interior hurt, she’s bold, forgiving, insightful, and caring. I imagine this will be a series with her as the protagonist; at least, I hope that that’s the plan. The way that Armstrong revealed Ruby’s character and how her time in Cornwall affected her was engaging.
Ruan Kivell, the Pellar, is a mystery throughout the book. He’s also a person of depth like Ruby. When she met him, I liked him, but for a while, he backslid for a bit. I found him to be a bit overbearing. But Armstrong had plans for the Pellar that turned out well. I want to go into more depth about some of his character changes – maybe, reveals – but they might be considered spoilers. So, I’ll take the side of caution and say that I like the relationship that he and Ruby develop. They work well together even if he is a bit overbearing.
Supernatural or Not
I love the idea of a curse being played out in a small town full of superstitious people. Here, though, it’s played out in opposing poles of Ruby, the realist, and the Pellar, the mystic. Even if Ruan doesn’t believe in the curse himself, to the villager and to the story, he represents mysticism. Armstrong uses them to bandy back and forth whether the curse is real or just a convenient cover for a murderer. It was okay; at times, it was overplayed and made me think of a Scooby Doo story; that at the end, Ruby would pull a mask off of old man Johnson. These times were few but they existed. When Armstrong pulled off the “is it/isn’t it” part of her storytelling, the story reminded me of the better episodes of The X-Files. In the end, this is a small complaint and didn’t affect my enjoyment much. As I said earlier, I’ll be here for Armstrong’s next book.
Conclusion
Jess Armstrong’s The Curse of Penryth Hall is a wonderful debut. It’s an atmospheric story in a wonderful setting full of interesting characters. This is a story that you’ll want to dwell in. Highly recommended.
The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is available from Minotaur Books now.
© PrimmLife.com 2023