The dead of winter door Chris Priestley

English Book review 1

The dead of winter – Chris Priestley

Summary

The book tells the story of Michael Vyner. When his mother suddenly dies he has to go live with a friend of his father (his father died years ago in a war). This man is sir Stephen and he owns a big castle named Hawton Mere. On his way to Hawton Mere he notices through the window of the carriage a woman in wet clothes looking at him in horror. But when he gets out of the carriage to help, the woman is gone.

 As he arrives at the castle he meets the strange residents: sir Stephen whose wife died in strange circumstances (she committed suicide by jumping of the balcony) and his sister lady Charlotte. At night, he hears strange sounds all around the castle but when he gets up to check it out, everything is quiet. One day he finds a portrait of sir Stephens wife, Margret,  and she looks just like the lady he saw from the carriage. Michael gets more and more the feeling that something strange is going on at Hawton Mere. When he goes for a walk around the castle he sees Margret jumping of the balcony into the moat below, then he feels someone pushing him into the moat. He almost drowns but is saved just in time by a servant. Michael gets the feeling that Margret didn’t jump of the balcony but that she was pushed from there. He also gets horrible dreams about sir Stephens wife who was pushed by someone with a green ring. At the Christmas dinner he notices lady Charlotte wearing the same ring. When Charlotte finds out he knows everything, she tries to push him from the balcony too, but sir Stephen can prevent that. Whereupon Charlotte kills him with a pair of scissors. In his fall Stephen pushes over a candle and the whole room sets on fire. Michael  nearly escapes but Charlotte is trapped inside. To escape from the flames she tries to jump of the balcony (just like Margret) but she also drowns in the moat. Michael departs on a journey as far away from Hawton Mere as possible.

Opinion

I had already read some other books from the same author so I tough it would be a good idea to read this one. It was a great book with a fun writing style. Sometimes the book was a little creepy but I didn’t mind that. I would recommend this book too anyone who would want to read it.