Book set in a Crumbling Mansion

Submitted: 9th January 2026

Book set in a Crumbling Mansion

Now this is atmospheric reading.

Destination: Wiltshire 1922

Vee Morgan accepts the job of gardener at a crumbling stately home. Harfold Manor however is an house with secrets and long memories and its rooms are said to be haunted.

Vee is hoping for a fresh start after a troubled history. But the house and its inhabitants have other ideas….

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Review

I love visiting stately homes and right away I was inside this book not just visiting one but working as a gardener in one. Vee as the main character is fleeing a troubled past and so wants a fresh start. A new year and I want a fresh start so I felt for Vee from the off. I as Vee am also a trailblazer it turns out as female gardeners are not the norm at the time the novel is set. Go me and Vee!

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She starts working for the eccentric lady of the house Lady Arabella. They become close and again, that is not the norm for the time. Never mind the class difference but the fact they are both women is even more frowned upon. Vee and I were becoming more different by the minute but isn’t that the genius of living someone else’s life in a book? This romance however turns into something else. Eek I thought. What’s going on here? Well, let me tell YOU! Arabella may be cursed. Now as me I was tempted to run out of the house at this point but as Vee, I stayed….

I stayed to find out the family secret and I was not disappointed! This is no Downton Abbey – this is dark! And an animal dies. That was upsetting. But this book surprised me, mixed genres and gender norms and I loved it.