About the Book
Eleanor, Richard and their two young daughters recently stretched themselves to the limit to buy their dream home, a four-bedroom Victorian townhouse in East London. But the cracks are already starting to show. Eleanor is unnerved by the eerie atmosphere in the house and becomes convinced it is making her ill. Whilst Richard remains preoccupied with Zoe, their mercurial twenty-seven-year-old lodger, Eleanor becomes determined to unravel the mystery of the house’s previous owners – including Emily, whose name is written hundreds of times on the walls of the upstairs room.
My Review
I thought that The Upstairs Room would be an old-fashioned ghost story, but whilst it did have some spooky moments there wasn’t many of them. The novel was mainly about three of the individuals who lived there.
I have to say that I struggled to like any of them initially, but as I read more I started to like Eleanor. I would think that being married to a man like Richard would be enough punishment for anybody. But as well as putting up with him she was also the one who suffered most living in the house. She knew that there was something wrong, knew that her eldest daughter was suffering but got no help. She was just reminded that she was ill. Their lodger, Zoe was a mess, she had nothing and had no idea what she wanted. But Richard was also causing problems for her.
I persevered with this novel because even though it wasn’t like I expected it to be, a spooky read, the relationship between the three intrigued me. At times, I found it as chilling as what was happening in the upstairs room. If I had a quibble it would be that I would have liked to know more about what happened in the house in the past with less focus on the present day inhabitants.
With thanks to the publisher for the copy received via NetGalley.
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