Review: Wormwood Abbey

Wormwood Abbey by Christina Baehr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Unlike almost every other book I've got via Bookbub in the past couple of years, this one is by an author who knows how to use basic writing mechanics. She also seems reasonably well read in English literature and has a good grasp on how the world of 1899 worked. There are a couple of Americanisms ("someplace" and "gotten"), but I didn't spot any anachronisms, unless you count the main character not questioning the story that a pack of wolves killed her uncle and cousin. The character, as she's presented, ought to have known that there had been no wolves in England for about 400 years at this point (unless this is an alternative enough world that that isn't true, but it seems, apart from the dragons, to be pretty similar to ours).

She's a clergyman's daughter, and she and her parents are genuinely devout; Christianity is woven into their lives, not just as something they observe outwardly, but in how they think and act. For me, it didn't come across as preachy, but readers who are particularly averse to Christian content may find it's not for them.

Edith, the main character and first-person narrator, goes with her father, stepmother and younger brother to a house in Yorkshire that has been in her father's family for centuries. He was estranged from his family, but his brother and nephew have died, meaning he has inherited it under an entail. Living there are his three nieces, the eldest of whom is about Edith's age (late teens to early twenties). He wants to break the entail, sell up, and settle the proceeds on the nieces, since his living from the church is adequate for his family's needs and he's a decent man. But what he and Edith don't initially realize is that the family has an ancient responsibility connected to a mystery in the area. (It's dragons. That's not really a spoiler, because it's obvious from early on, not least from the names: their surname is Worms, the house is Wormwood Abbey, the locality is called Ormdale, and their neighbour is Mr Drake.)

The story consists of Edith and her cousin Gwendolyn slowly coming to the point where Gwendolyn trusts Edith enough to confide in her about the secret, with side plots about a treasure-hunting lawyer (thoroughly objectionable), a pet salamander, and Edith's secret occupation as a writer of sensational mystery stories - of which Gwendolyn, who doesn't know the secret of her authorship, is a fan. I felt that the ending came abruptly, though it wasn't a cliffhanger; once the mystery had been revealed to everyone, the book stopped. Still, it is Book 1 of a series, so it's mostly setup.

The writing was competent, and the character of Edith, and her interactions with her family, showed some depth and dimension. Another reviewer has described her as inconsistent, but I think the different ways she responded to different situations through the book show a rounded character, who's confident in some circumstances and not in others. She's clever, principled, and capable, which is the kind of character I like to follow. There are currently three more books, and I've put the next one on my wishlist.

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