Mrs England
It’s 1904, and Ruby May, a recently graduated nanny, moves to a new post in Yorkshire. All seems well at first: Mr and Mrs England are part of a wealthy mill-owning dynasty with a large home and three small children, and Ruby starts to settle into her new life in the beautiful, yet isolated landscape.
From the first, however, she notices signs that all is not well. Mrs England does not act in the manner that an upper-middle-class Englishwoman should, and Ruby becomes increasingly concerned by her behaviour and the responses of Mr England and the children to it. Ruby, however, is herself in a precarious position: she cannot afford to “fail” in her job if she is to keep working for the prestigious agency that employs her, and she has a darker secret about her own family which she is desperate to keep to herself, but which she cannot ignore as she starts to understand what is happening.
This is an absorbing tale, told in the tradition of gothic novels: bleak, windswept landscapes, an innocent newcomer with a secret past and a central female character who may be villain or victim, yet is curiously absent from much of the action of the book itself. In less skilful hands, these elements could be hackneyed, yet Halls uses these features to good effect.
Ruby May is an engaging narrator, her initial appearance of straightforwardness belied by the more complex character which is revealed as we learn more about her past. The author is adept in the way that she drip-feeds us information, both about Ruby and the Englands, which in turn ensures that the tension keeps mounting in this slow-burning, beautifully written and compelling novel. Recommended.
