4.5 stars
CBR16 Bingo: Dun Dun (From pretty much the first chapter, where Cordelia is “made obedient” there is a creeping sense of dread all the way through this novel)
Cordelia knows her mother isn’t like other mothers. Other mothers can’t take over your limbs and puppet you, or force you to stay still and motionless for hours or days on end. Other mothers permit doors that can be closed in the house and let their daughters have friends. Other mothers don’t have a magical horse who spies on the daughter when they are out on rides. Cordelia’s mother wants her to marry a rich man, and to launch her daughter properly into society, Cordelia’s mother needs a rich husband who can provide her with the lifestyle she requires, and then conveniently disappear.
Cordelia’s mother, Evangeline, has found a suitable candidate, a middle-aged country squire who she now just needs to charm sufficiently for him to propose marriage to her. She can’t enchant him, because all magical spells are dissolved once the wedding takes place (it involves water, wine, salt and holy ground). Fortunately for her (certainly not anyone else), Evangeline is beautiful and enticing and more than manipulative even without using magic. What she had not taken account of when plotting, was suspicious relatives.
The squire’s spinster sister, Hester, recognises Doom (as she without fail refers to Evangeline) the second she arrives on their doorstep, and she has no intention of letting her brother fall into her clutches. Hester is initially unsure whether Cordelia is her mother’s creature and will take Doom’s side, but after observing some of their interactions and speaking to the servants (Cordelia sometimes goes to sleep hidden in a wardrobe), she concludes that the girl will also need to be rescued from her ambitious and merciless mother.
Full review here
Bingo #7: Bananas – Leather & Lark, Disco – Take the Lead, Part 1 – Gemina, Dun Dun – this, Liberate – In Memoriam