The White Hare

Johnson (The Sea Gate) delivers an engrossing gothic tale of family secrets, scandals, and ancient mysteries in a small Cornish village in 1954. When Londoner Mila Prusik, 26, discovers her husband’s betrayal, her mother, Magda, pressures Mila to leave him. The two women move with Mila’s five-year-old daughter, Janey, to a weathered beach house in White Cove. Though once a setting for posh gatherings before WWII, the house took on a reputation of harboring an evil force after the previous owners disappeared. Magda, vain and manipulative, torments Mila for her failed marriage; later, Magda reveals secrets from her past to Mila, which explains some of her hostility. Magda is also cruel to Janey, a clever child, whose toy rabbit is a proxy for Janey’s fanciful visions. With the help of handyman Jack Lord, Magda begins returning the house to its former opulence, and invites the village to its grand opening on New Year’s Eve. Johnson uses the party to revisit another New Year’s Eve when a tragedy occurred in Jack’s childhood, just as Mila and Jack are beginning a relationship. Though the supernatural elements involving Janey feel a bit overdone, there are plenty of savory atmospheric details, and Magda’s and Jack’s confessions hit hard. For the most part, Johnson gets the job done. (Oct.)