This is a book that I picked up for a number of reasons: (1) it is a gothic novel, (2) I enjoyed the last Dorothy Eden book that I read, (3) the cover art is gorgeous, and (4) the use of the word "Ardmore" in the title piqued my curiosity. Dorothy Eden, author of
Shadow of a Witch, a gothic that I read and reviewed last year, wrote quite a few gothic novels between 1940 and 1982, most under her own name (although she did write two books under the Mary Paradise pseudonym). It is said that by the early 1980s, Eden was one of the 10 best-selling novelists in the world. She was born in New Zealand, where she lived her entire life. While her books are most well known as Gothic novels, they do not always follow all of the standard Gothic tropes. This one certainly did not.
The Daughters of Ardmore Hall, originally titled
The Schoolmaster's Daughter when it was first published back in 1946, or 1948 depending on which site you research, tells the story of two sister (and, no, they are not Mary Campbell and Jessica Tate, so don't go there!) - Charlotte Castle, the older sister, and Truda Castle, the younger one. Truda is the main character, and it is through her perspective that the reader is told the tale of these daughters of Ardmore Hall. What's interesting is that, despite the revised title, neither Charlotte nor Truda ever actually lived in Ardmore Hall. In fact, of the two, only Truda ever visits the place. As it turns out, Ardmore Hall is very tangential to the story - the Hall is actually the ancestral home of the sisters' mother, which was sold many years prior, and Mrs. Castle was forced to take all of her prized possessions and cram them into the small schoolhouse where she and her daughters now lived with Henry Castle, the school master for the small town in which they lived. I was honestly hoping that Ardmore Hall would play a bit more of a role in the story, since the name has appeared before in other books I've read - Mildred Wirt's
Ghost Gables, as well as her book
Courageous Wings; in addition, Ardmore was the name of the college in the Ruth Fielding series, some of which were written by Wirt; and it was mentioned as a college attended by a character in the Madge Sterling series, also, coincidentally, written by Wirt. Thus, with so many references to Ardmore, the title to this particular book definitely caught my attention. All of Wirt's books appeared prior to the first publication of this story (under its original title); however, living in New Zealand, it is likely Eden's inspiration for using the name more likely came from the fact there is a large, rural town named Ardmore in New Zealand. As for Wirt's reason in using that name so often? Well, there are several cities in the United States by that name...
In any event, when reading this book, do not expect to find any gloomy mansion or large castle with hidden rooms or falling cement gargoyles. While the cover art depicts a rather large house, the story makes it clear the house is not very big, and the furniture Mrs. Castle brought with her from Ardmore Hall makes it cramped. From the beginning, the reader gets a clear sense of Truda's relationship based upon how each of the members of her family and close circle of friends are addressed. Mr. Castle is referred to as "Father," while Mrs. Castle is referred to by her proper name, "Fanny." Right away, it is obvious there is tension between Truda and her mother. Charlotte, Truda's older sister, seems to be the focal point of all that tension - her mother dotes on her, loves her, protects her, so much that Truda is merely an afterthought, brushed aside or insulted if her actions in any way interfere with her sister's glory. Mr. Castle, on the other hand, sees the injustice and often comes to his younger daughter's defense, as does Miss Angel, the school teacher who is a very close friend of the family. Charlotte, with her beauty and her strong personality, demands the attention of everyone around her, and as she has matured, she has learned how to manipulate people and situations to give the appearance that she is innocent of anything other then being in the right place at the right time. Truda sees this, but she cannot seem to help herself and repeatedly gives in to her sister's wants and demands.
Until the fateful night of the big dance, when Charlotte is sick and must stay home, and Truda has a chance to go without her sister, where she meets Evan Wright. For the first time, the world seems to be opening up and giving Truda a chance to shine and have a life of her own, apart from Charlotte. Fate, however, has other plans. While the synopsis on the back of the book describes how three years have passed since Evan left and Charlotte returns without a word of where she has been or what she has done, in actuality is is Truda who does the leaving, and it is actually four years that pass before Charlotte returns to the small schoolhouse. Father has died, Truda's marriage to Evan fell apart (when she caught Evan kissing Charlotte), and Truda is raising her daughter, Honey, on her own (neither Evan nor Charlotte knows about the child). But now Charlotte is back, and with her return (more than half-way through the book!), we finally start seeing some of those Gothic elements appear.
Truda meets the new town doctor, Luke, who seems to be attracted to her. But Truda is still married to Evan, with whom she shares a child. Charlotte, even from her sick bed, begins to shower Honey with attention, making it clear she wants to steal the child away from Truda just like she did her husband. On the night Evan is supposed to arrive by train, a horrible storm hits. Mrs. Castle's sister, Aunt Letty (and with that name, how could I not think of the Dana Girls' nemesis, Lettie Briggs? Thankfully, this Letty is nothing like that one!), arrives, saying she saw no sign of Evan on the train. Mrs. Castle, Aunt Letty, Miss Angel, and Truda are all caught out in the rain and come back to the house (separately!) with muddied boots and wet clothes. No sign of Evan. But more odd, there is no sign of Charlotte, who everyone believes left to meet Evan on the train. After the storm passes, Charlotte's fate is discovered - she is dead, having been forcefully drowned in a pond, formed by the rain, behind the house. Who did it? Evan shows up the next day, but Truda finds clues that indicate he was there the previous night. All of the women were out, by themselves, when the storm hit, and none of them have anyone to give them an alibi. It's actually a very well-crafted mystery, although astute readers will likely pick up on the identity of the killer pretty quickly. I will give Eden credit for trying to play up the various suspects, but there is one that stands out as somewhat obvious, based upon that particular character's actions just prior to the murder.
While we do not get the typical "two men - one appears good, but is really evil, while the other seems not nice at all, but turns out to be the real hero" trope of Gothic novels, Eden does give poor Truda two men in her life (although Luke does not come into the picture until nearly three-fourths of the way into the story). There is also the small clue in Mrs. Castle's diary that raises questions in Truda's mind regarding Charlotte and why she is so important to their mother. Throughout the entire story, it is easy to sympathize with Truda, and you quickly finding yourself rooting for her, hoping she will eventually stand up for herself and not tolerate all of the catering to Charlotte - and when she does, you will no doubt cheer like I did!
The cover art to my copy of the book was painted by Harry Barton (1908 - 2001), whose illustrations can be found in a number of old magazine and pulps. His largest body of work, however, are found on the covers of books published by a number of recognizable publishing houses, such as Dell, Ace, Dial Press, and others. This particular cover shows Truda, with the wind blowing against her (obviously just before the storm hits on that fateful night), and the house behind her with just one light on in an upstairs window (typical Gothic fare). While not completely accurate as far as the house goes, the scene appears to be straight from the opening two pages of the book, where Truda is contemplating what has happened and her mind prepares to go over everything that led up to that moment (and thus, the entire story from that point is a flashback). What is interesting about this cover is that the copy with the glossy gold lettering has Truda heading to the right, looking back over her shoulder to the left; however, there is another copy of the book with plain white lettering which features the art reversed - or so I thought! It turns out, by looking at Barton's signature on the painting, it is the one with the white lettering that shows the art in its original form, and it is the cover of my copy that has the reversed art (as Barton's signature appears backwards in the lower right corner). There is yet another edition of the book which features a completely different cover, the artist of which I am unsure, since there is no signature on the cover art. That cover (shown up above in this post) departs even further from the description of the house, making it more of a castle, and it shows one sister holding tightly to a man (presumably Evan), while the other sister stands back in the mist watching. Honestly, I think I prefer Barton's cover better, as it not only depicts an actual scene from the book, but it definitely has a stronger Gothic feel to it.
Although it is not a typical Gothic tale, I did really enjoy the story (relating somewhat to Truda's position, not with regard to my parents, but with regard to my grandmother). This book confirms my like of Dorothy Eden's work, and I need to track down more of her stories.
RATING: 9 fair daffodils out of 10 for family drama, dark secrets, soap opera reveals, and a good, old-fashioned murder mystery worth reading!
