|
"I came to Bosco for the quiet. That's what it's famous for…. Even Bosco's legendary silence won't be able to still the voice in my head."
That's the first and the last of Chapter One. And it presages a sinister story about to unfold. A group of artists has gathered at Bosco, a prestigious retreat that one applies for and then nervously hopes to be among the few chosen. As with every year, an impressive mix of talent has drawn together for this latest season. But each individual who has been selected has a strong, if obscure, tie to the estate. And the spirits inhabiting the house have brought them there for a purpose. The sought-after "quiet hours of work" at Bosco are anything but --- and then there are the nights; the long, cold nights.
Slipping seamlessly between the present and 1893, the tale of one family's tragedy is revealed, interwoven with the histories of Bosco's present-day guests. In an ill-fated summer long ago, Aurora Latham, mistress of the house, believed that her dead children's spirits lingered at Bosco, perpetually searching for a peace that so far had eluded them. Milo, her husband, wanted a peace of his own, so he summoned the famous medium Corinth Blackwell to calm his wife's irrational --- in his opinion --- fears. But instead of peace, there followed more heartbreak.
This year, first-time novelist Ellis Brooks is thrilled to be among the famous personae invited to Bosco. She has been researching the sad events of 1893 that led to the loss of three of the Latham children to diphtheria and the puzzling abduction of their last living child. As Ellis works on her story, she finds herself intrigued not only by the events of that long-ago summer, but by Bosco itself: an imposing old manor with false doors, twisting corridors concealed behind bookcases, a creepy attic storing much more than musty trunks, and splendid views over its once-grand grounds. She becomes distracted by the ruins of the estate gardens where she discovers a network of secret passages, overgushing fountains, hidden grottoes decorated --- or guarded --- by oddly disturbing statues, a terrifying maze…and the many legends behind them all.
While Ellis and the rest struggle to decipher Bosco's haunting past, the escalating danger pits each against the others, forcing them to ponder who can be trusted and who cannot. After all, choosing the wrong alliance might be fatal.
A love story as much as a ghost story, THE GHOST ORCHID reads like a classic literary mystery. Its genre crossing is sure to please many palates.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
 Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.
© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
|
