Valley of Nightmares | Jane Godman | Book Review

PLOT: 4/5
CHARACTERS: 4/5
WRITING STYLE: 4/5
CLIMAX: 3.5/5
ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 4.5/5

I picked up this book from Netgalley and started reading it only after a month or so of downloading it. If my words mean anything to you – I say mark my words – this book will surely surprise you. It is deadly, and by deadly I mean it has the power to cast a spell on the reader and never let her go until she is done away with it for good. Based in the year 1938, when World War 2 was just looming in the corner and Hitler was at the peak of his reign, this book is based in the then England.

The Taran Valley, or the devilish valley of the land of Welsh (whose claim to fame are the associated ghost stories and tales which run wild across the whole of Europe) is where the story is set and needless to say the author Jane Godman has made some good use of the historic and geographic setting of the novel.

Lilly Divine, a young girl, orphaned in the early years of her life, is working in a burlesque in London, when day, her life changes as she is offered a job to work as a governess in a secluded house in the ghostly valley of Taran. No sooner does Lilly put her feet in the house, she realizes that the house is home to the evil. There is evil everywhere and she has a nudging feeling that it will soon engulf both her and Ceri; the little girl who she has come for.

The nightmares and the stories are all that occupy the mind of Lilly. In between the evil happenings in and around the house and her own incessant nightmares; she has lost her heart out to her employer, the formidable and irresistible Gethin Taran, who can be as hard to please as any Hollywood star. Without dwelling any further into the story details, I would like to bring to your notice the point, that this book is an absolute charmer and offers its readers the near perfect dose of spookiness, thrill and romance.

Thus, unless you don’t wish to miss out on a great romance, do not judge this book by its cover or by its title, for they are nowhere close to doing justice to what this book really is. I rate this book four and a half out of five stars and recommend it to all my readers.