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Book Review of The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret

The Secret Rooms: A True Story of a Haunted Castle, a Plotting Duchess, and a Family Secret
maura853 avatar reviewed on + 542 more book reviews


Well-researched and well-written, but Bailey (and, more likely, her publisher) have tried a little too hard to ratchet up the suspense and "shock, horror" aspects. The title is, honestly, very misleading. The "secret" rooms weren't THAT secret, and you can make up your own mind whether there's any haunting. And did EVERY chapter have to end with a lame cliffhanger? Cheap shock tactics undermined what was a very sad and interesting story that needed no added dramatics. It would convince anyone that, however bad things seem today, they could have been far, far worse for our ancestors of only a couple of generations ago.

Enjoyable and well-written, especially if you're a fan of Downton Abbey, or interested in late-Victorian/early 20th Century history, or World War I, or all of the above.