The Darkling Bride
A Novel
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4.4 • 54 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Three generations of Irish nobles face their family secrets in this spellbinding novel from the award-winning author of the Boleyn King trilogy.
The Gallagher family has called Deeprath Castle home for seven hundred years. Nestled in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, the estate is now slated to become a public trust, and book lover and scholar Carragh Ryan is hired to take inventory of its historic library. But after meeting Aidan, the current Viscount Gallagher, and his enigmatic family, Carragh knows that her task will be more challenging than she’d thought.
Two decades before, Aidan’s parents died violently at Deeprath. The case, which was never closed, has recently been taken up by a new detective determined to find the truth. The couple’s unusual deaths harken back a century, when twenty-three-year-old Lady Jenny Gallagher also died at Deeprath under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind an infant son and her husband, a renowned writer who never published again. These incidents only fueled fantastical theories about the Darkling Bride, a local legend of a sultry and dangerous woman from long ago whose wrath continues to haunt the castle.
The past catches up to the present, and odd clues in the house soon have Carragh wondering if there are unseen forces stalking the Gallagher family. As secrets emerge from the shadows and Carragh gets closer to answers—and to Aidan—could she be the Darkling Bride’s next victim?
Praise for The Darkling Bride
“A gorgeous concoction of Victorian gothic, mystery, and romance, all with an unforgettable library, The Darkling Bride is the perfect book to curl up with in front of a roaring fire. Laura Andersen has created a masterpiece.”—Tasha Alexander, New York Times bestselling author of the Lady Emily Mysteries
“Who can say no to an abandoned castle, a mysterious library, a renowned Victorian novelist, a brooding viscount, and a mystery that goes back several generations? Andersen captures the gothic tone perfectly, drawing you into the secrets of Deeprath Castle. . . . Perfect for reading on a rainy day with a strong cup of Irish tea!”—Lauren Willig, New York Times bestselling author of That Summer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Atmosphere doesn't come any more dark and dank than in this gothic novel from Andersen (The Boleyn King) that takes place in an Irish castle riddled with secrets and haunted by ghosts. Hired to catalog the library at Deeprath Castle, Carragh Ryan, a Chinese-American academic, early on proclaims, "I'm here for the library. Not for men, and not for ghosts." But her work will involve her with both, the former in the person of the handsome, brooding Viscount Aidan Gallagher, a London art cop who inherited his title and the castle 23 years ago after the mysterious deaths of his parents. The ghosts arrive via a haunted local folktale, that of the Darkling Bride. In a parallel narrative set in 1879, English novelist Evan Chase comes to Deeprath Castle pursuing the legend and falls in love with its young mistress, Jenny Gallagher, who meets an untimely death. In the present, Carragh and Aidan team up to get to the bottom of all three deaths and their ties to the legend of the Darkling Bride. Andersen (The Boleyn King) has plenty of surprises up her sleeve to keep the reader entertained on the way to a suspenseful ending, including hypnosis, a changeling, and of course ghosts. , This review has been corrected; an earlier version included an incorrect setting.
