A Scent of Violets - a Queen-Size Gothic

After reading The Scent of Lilacs by Carolyn Wilson, I happened across this book, which also features the scent of a flower in its title.  Obviously, my curiosity got the best of me, so I had to find a good copy of it (which I eventually did on eBay).  This particular book is "A Queen-Size Gothic," which was a line of gothic paperbacks that Popular Library started in the early '70s to compete with the plethora of gothic books on the store shelves.  These queen-size gothics were advertised as "a new idea" that offered "the very best in novels of romantic suspense, by the top writers, greater in length and drama, richer in reading pleasure," as stated on the back of the book.  In fact, the publisher went on to promote them as "READING FIT FOR A QUEEN."  That is certainly some very rich hype to live up to - leading me to wonder, could they do it?

A Scent of Violets does have the standard gothic tropes: a young, naive woman ... a foreboding house in the middle of nowhere ... a mysterious family with dark secrets ... horrifying cries in the middle of the night ... and a supernatural legend surrounding the marsh lands between the house and the nearest village.  But the normal hint of romance between the young woman and at least one of the men in the story is completely absent from this book.  There is no romance here; instead, the author opens the story with our young heroine, Linnet Grey, wondering if she was going to lose her student teaching job at the Academy for Young Girls.  An orphan, Linnet has no family, so if she loses her job, she will have no one to turn to and nowhere to go!  Fate intervenes, though, when Linnet sneaks off to see a play starring the up and coming actress, Chantel Legris.  There is something familiar about the actress, but Linnet has no time to ponder, because she is kidnapped outside the theater and taken in the dead of night to the dark mansion known as Willerby!

I give the author credit for giving readers a fresh take on the gothic tropes.  I certainly was not expecting a kidnapping to get the story started.  And then for poor Linnet to find herself in a secluded mansion with people she does not know, yet who all seem to know her - and detest her!  Who is this person they are mistaking her for, and what did she do to make them hate her so?  When parts of the house seem familiar to her, Linnet begins to wonder if she is losing her mind - had she really lived here before and simply forgotten?  Was she really the person they claimed she was?  Or was she the daughter of a sailor, whose parents died tragically at sea, leaving her alone in the world to survive at an all-girls school with a matron who clearly thought very little of her?  And what is that fleeting light that flashes by her window at night, going out into the marshes before disappearing?  And who is behind the woeful cries coming from the closed-off tower, the door to which is kept locked?  And where is the scent of violets that she keeps smelling in the halls coming from?  Are there ghosts haunting the halls of Willerby, and will Linnet soon be joining them?

I love the fact that Linnet is somewhat timid, having been trained at her school to adhere to orders given; yet, at the same time, she has a backbone, and she is not afraid to stand up to the mysterious and handsome Marcus Bellamy, who insists she is his arrogant, detestable ward who ran away two years ago to avoid her responsibilities and to hide from the damage she has caused.  I also loved the young little made, Cissie, who ends up becoming Linnet's only friend in that lonely, old house - afraid of the housekeeper, Mrs. Price, but willing to eavesdrop at doors and warn Linnet of what she overhears!  And I was actually surprised when the author introduced another young man into the picture - Rupert Manning, a friend of Bellamy's who has come to the house to provide advice on how to handle Bellamy's ward.  He turns out to be a sniveling little coward who is more caught up in his loyalty to his friend to see what is happening right in front of his own eyes.  Which leaves Linnet to once again fend for herself.

The author is Ruth Fabian, which is one of the many pen names used by British writer Aileen Armitage Longden.  She wrote more than forty novels that were published between 1971 and 2005, many of which were historical romances and gothic in nature.  A Scent of Violets is a mixture of the two, as it is set in 1882, providing a historical setting for her gothic terror.  Despite having two possible love interests (Bellamy and Manning), the title character in the story does not find herself attracted to either of them, even though she recognizes the handsome physical traits of both.  Thus, Fabian (Longden) is able to provide readers with a tale that features a very strong female protagonist who does not need a man to rescue her or save her from the frightening situation into which she is thrust.  She creates her own plans for escape, she faces the supernatural sounds and sights on her own, and the ultimate sacrifice that gives way to her freedom is a choice she makes all on her own.  And this is what makes Linnet a very likable character that the reader is anxious to see freed from her Willerby cage.

The cover is beautifully painted, but there is no indication as to who the artist is.  The young woman on the cover is reminiscent of Lara Parker as Angelique in the original Dark Shadows television show - that cascading blond hair, that blue dress.  And that dark mansion behind her could easily stand in for Collinwood.  Would love to know who the artist is, just to see what other work he or she has done and how it compares to this piece.

RATING:  10 violet cachous candies out of 10 for an outstanding gothic novel that provides all the right elements without the unnecessary romance thrown in!