“She’d always loved how Wake’s End looked from outside. To kill a man to redeem the sins of others was as irrational as tapping a hole in one’s eggshell to stop a witch using it as a boat.” “As she lay in bed i t occurred to her that between religion and superstition there was no difference, since both were based on unreason. I know Maud and Wake’s End will remain with me for a long time, and I will find myself back in the fen when I least expect it. I felt it was more of a gothic drama, perhaps even a coming-of-age story but with a decidedly dark edge. I would not call it a thriller or much of a mystery, although it begins with a murder and the question of why it was committed. I didn’t need to be scared the novel was still beautifully gothic in the use of the setting and descriptions. The most chilling part for me came towards the end when certain peoples’ lives came under threat, but I’m not saying anything more because of spoilers. It is the tale of one man’s past catching up with him, and of insanity. I would also say that nothing about this novel scared me in a supernatural sense. The second half was a little slow at times, with unnecessary repetition of events. Indeed, Maud’s development from naïve child to intelligent, proactive and somewhat cynical teenager was the driving force throughout this novel and something I really enjoyed. I smirked with Maud as she outwitted her father, stood up to the reverend’s daughter, and speared the mean housemaid with a particularly sharp insult.
My stomach twisted with rage at Maud’s mother’s brutal and careless treatment, and at her father’s conceited and ignorant views on women in general. The author set the tone for Edwardian England perfectly, where the man of the house was master of all things. Maud had my sympathy from the start, although she is somewhat of a hard child, and I was rooting for her to triumph. The setting came alive, and even now I can see the starlings swooping over the fens, taste the dust from the dry summer roads, feel the damp cold creeping over my body from the dank water. It was refreshingly easy to read, written from Maud’s perspective. She must find her way to safety and sanity in a world steeped in witchcraft, age-old legends, and her father’s shocking past. Maud must battle to protect the home she treasures, the nature she adores, and the people she loves. Enduring an overbearing patriarchal and Christian existence, Maud finds solace in the nature surrounding her, but when her father discovers a painted medieval devil in the local graveyard, Maud’s life becomes infinitely more complicated. In an isolated corner of the Suffolk fens stands an old manor house, inhabited by a lonely girl called Maud and her repressive father.
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