The Temptation of Charlotte North

Bruce (At the Bottom of the Garden) declares this riveting paranormal thriller her “love letter to gothic storytelling, salty waves, and strong-willed girls with nowhere to go.” In 1910 on the mysterious island of Margaret’s Keep, headstrong Charlotte North, the privileged but emotionally abused daughter of a wealthy shipowner and his laudanum-addicted wife, gets caught up in a passionate maelstrom when a handsome new pastor, Jasper Hill, takes up residency on the island with his wife. Their arrival comes just before an uncanny earthquake splits the island’s ancient monument, Margaret’s Tower, asunder and Charlotte’s disastrous crush on Jasper slips into fatal obsession amid subsequent poltergeist activities that plague the island. Bruce toggles between Charlotte’s lovelorn perspective, Jasper’s torment over his lust, and the refreshingly sensible narration of the island’s schoolmarm Ruth, who is escaping her own troubled past. Richly atmospheric and peopled with exquisitely delineated characters, including Hill’s tepid wife and Charlotte’s dysfunctional Edwardian family, the novel builds to a genuine shocker of an ending. Readers will be hooked. (May)