The Frangitelli Mirror Written by G. R. Thomas Book Review by Miranda Moses (Fraser) ISBN: 978-0-9945069-9-3 Spooky lovers unite! G. R. Thomas has blessed us with a spooky story I don't think I'll easily forget. Sadly, this is the last book review of the Halloween season so I am pleased to end on such a good note! This book was excellent and truly fits the Halloween spirit! Quick note, I always include links to the author's pages at the end of my reviews. However, I am mentioning this at the start because while I was getting the author's information, I noticed two things I'd like to share with you right away. Firstly, you can buy a signed copy of her books from her website. So, if you collect signed books, like I do, you may want to order from the author directly! Secondly, she has "content warnings" on all of her books. While I am not a person who generally looks for content warnings before I jump into a story, in this case, I actually feel like the content warnings may be valuable to some readers. So here is what the author has on her website about The Frangitelli Mirror, "Content Warning: Paranormal themes and violence, horror themes, talk of death of an infant, talk of death of a child, blood and gore" And now if you're still here, let's discuss this novel! The novel takes place during World War 1, in what we find out is Australia. Now, take that last bit of information and just throw it away. It doesn't really matter. Because this book has so much focus on Italy, where our main character's father immigrated from. There are plenty of Italian words throughout the story (in case the title didn't give that away). The heroin, Rose, is 18, and she and her mother are alone and struggling to find work and keep themselves fed. Her father went off to war and they have not heard from him in two years. Living in a nightmare of pain, loss, and worry is hard enough, but then our dear Rose has a dark secret on top of it. She can see ghosts, she is tormented day and night with the beings that lurk in the shadows. Followed everywhere by a crow she calls, "Devil". Rose cannot tell her mother or anyone else about this awful secret... and perhaps keeping it is worse than experiencing the secret itself. Now as we said their family is in dire need. Papa's been missing for two years, she and her mother are going to starve to death if they don't get help. So Rose applies for every job she can but none come her way. That is until she is offered a position as a Lady's Maid in the famous Rutherford House. It is a live-in position but the pay is exceedingly high. Between running from the ghosts and trying to save her family, what choice does Rose have but to take it? The problem is Rutherford House is shrouded in mystery and rumors, a high turnover staff, and everyone is worried about Rose taking this job. But the mysterious housekeeper, Mr. Borgia is insistent that Rose is the one. She will be the Lady's Maid to finally help Mrs. Rutherford get on with her life. When Rose arrived another member of staff is storming out proclaiming that the lady of the house was a demon and she'd not be able to stand it a moment longer. Yet when Rose meets her, she's a calm even-tempered woman, dressed in mourning clothes. Mrs. Rutherford is indeed a little off, she has a terrible memory, keeps a doll with her at all times that she insists is a living baby, and she cannot stand to be in the dark. But she is a woman who has lost her husband and infant, age is creeping on her, and she is very alone. The one thing that does bring her comfort are her mirrors. Every wall is plastered with mirrors but center stage is the Frangitelli Mirror. An old ornate beauty that Mrs. Rutherford can stare into for hours. I won't lie, All I could see was dementia and a different time when they didn't understand the mental health of the elderly. And it let me down a little bit... because the story started off with ghosts. It started off actually having something spooky and now I was struck feeling like the mystery of the story was just a misunderstood mental health issue. But the story went on and I'm so glad I stuck with it! Rutherford House holds more than a living wage for Rose. She will discover things about herself that she could never have known otherwise. She learned about family mysteries... answers her Papa could not give her. And she faces gory horror and heartbreaking tales all at once. The monster at the center of the story is a demon called a Bruxas. Now, I am familiar with the term from the Witcher series where they are a female vampire sort of creature, but I don't know how they are portrayed in other cultures. In this story, however, they are specifically a demon who searches for infant souls but will devour any soul given the chance. It is important to share that since I did share the content warning at the start that it involves children dying. It particularly gripped me and made me cry because I can't imagine the lengths I would go to as a mother to save my child. That's the most spoiler I am willing to give. But if you're looking for a story with magic, demons, a little gore, definitely some emotions, and a good mystery you will enjoy The Frangitelli Mirror. Read on my fellow bookworms. May we one day have Belle's library! And as always links to the author's pages can be found down below.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Fiction Book ReviewsArchives
October 2022
|