I thought this was an okay read (listen?) and the story was entertaining enough, but for a ghost story it wasn’t very thrilling or scary. It was more of an investigation and had the feel of a crime mystery.
One thing that was really interesting was the changes in the portrayal of female characters between Victorian times and now. Poor old Mrs Zant is basically helpless. As a widow, she’s not allowed to control her own finances. She’s totally dependent on her brother-in-law to do stuff like rent a house for her and ultimately it’s up to the widower guy to work out that her brother-in-law is trying to take advantage of her and to rescue her. Like, I don’t think I’ve ever read about a more helpless, constantly-needing-to-be-saved female (other than Bella in Twilight).
Another weird thing was that considering the story is supposed to be about Mrs Zant, we really don’t find out much about her. She’s obviously meant to be a sympathetic character, but her positive qualities are basically limited to an ability to bond with Mr Rayburn’s daughter (i.e. motherly instincts = good person).
Despite the fact that this story isn’t great from a feminist standpoint, it was quite a sweet tale. Not scary, considering it’s touted as a ghost story, but fairly intriguing.
The narration was very good. Gillian Anderson really brought it to life and although I don’t often gel with audio books, I had no problem following this one.
3.5 stars