by Jess Armstrong
narrated by Emma Love
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The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong is a debut historical gothic mystery set just after World War I in Cornwall.
The audiobook version is narrated by Emma Love, and she did a great job! There are several characters with various accents, including some more local dialects, and she excelled there.
I’m quite pleased that this is the start of a series, because I really liked our heroine Ruby, an American heiress running a rare bookstore along with her elderly employer. I also really liked our hero: the Cornish Pellar (aka English folk magic healer, diviner, and breaker of spells) Ruan Kivell. Their banter was on point.
Casual queerness is one of my favorite things, especially in historical fiction, and our main character Ruby appears to be at minimum bisexual.
The vibes here were great. Though the plot moves a bit slowly at first, I got super into the story a few chapters in. I liked that there were some slightly speculative elements.
Also, this cover is GORGEOUS.
I received an audio copy of this book to review. Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the complimentary advanced listener copy. All opinions contained herein are my own.
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