“The creeping pace, melancholic tone, and full-bodied characters create a perfect snapshot of desperate youth amid oppressive tradition. This stands among the best of the current modern gothic trend.” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Donohue is a master of clean, sharp prose, and has a hugely impressive ability to create layers of atmosphere or ratchet up tension in a couple of beguilingly simple sentences.” – The Irish Times

The Temple House Vanishing
By Rachel Donohue
Genre: Contemporary/Mystery
Paperback, 304 pages
Available July 6, 2021 from Algonquin Books

Synopsis: Perched high atop a seaside cliff in Ireland, a lonely Victorian mansion is home to Temple House School. And at Temple House, nothing is ever as it seems.

Louisa is the new, brilliant scholarship student. Finding most of the other students at the all-girls Catholic boarding school as icy and unfamiliar as the drafty mansion, she forms a fierce bond with the intense and compelling Victoria, an outlier and student provocateur.

Their close bond is soon unsettled by the young, charismatic art teacher, Mr. Lavelle—igniting tension and obsession in the cloistered world of the school. Then one day, Louisa and Mr. Lavelle disappear.

Doesn’t this sound like a great, creepy story? Who is Mr. Lavelle and what happened to him and Louisa? I just received a copy of this book and am looking forward to reading it. Let me know if it’s on your radar.

It’s been a difficult week for my family because we lost my oldest cousin this past week. While he had been ill, this was a shock for us and it’s been hard to wrap my mind around this. He was 63 years-old and leaves behind his wife, parents and children. Unfortunately for various reasons I wasn’t able to travel for the funeral.

So I’ve been pulling out photo albums and looking at photographs from when we were kids. Thinking of the memories we shared growing up. Like when we used to go swimming, when he used to help me with math homework, and just a lot of other fun stories.

Once again I’m so frustrated by this pandemic because we have not seen our family since March 2020. And, we just heard that my father-in-law is in the hospital. So if you have some extra prayers please send them our way.

Life goes on but remember to hug your loved ones if you can. Luckily it is a longer weekend so we are doing a bit of driving around and just getting out of the house. I have many things to post about so I hope to get back here soon.