The Ghost Woods by C. J. Cooke

 

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book. It was a bit longer than necessary but still good. It kept me wanting to read to see where it was going. Though it was obviously going to a home where unwed mothers stay. Little did they know what awaited them. And you won't find out until the last third of the book. It's quite good but I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed. Like it went from the friends being made to the horror of what the father did. The father of the home. It's not what you think.... 

Two young women are pregnant in different timelines. One in 1959 the other in 1965. This is each woman's story. Though one is in my opinion just a child. A teen. Not a full on woman at all. You get to know each and how they came to be at Lichen Hall, the home for unwed mothers. 

How Mabel, in 1959, and Pearl, in 1965, come to know each other or how their lives cross is interesting also. Each of these young women have hardships. Mabel is from a very poor family and she honestly can't remember ever having sex. What could have happened to this young lady? Pearl was a respected nurse who fell pregnant after her boyfriend/fiance broke up with her and she slept with another to somewhat make herself feel better. Back in this time an unwed girl/woman was cast out. Considered fallen and undesirable as marriage material. 

After each gives birth you see how they deal with placing their babies with strangers. It's for the best don't you know. One child ends up staying and you will love him. Or I did. The couple running the house are very strange. Certain things have caused them to be strange and one being the many mushrooms that they seem to love growing. 

There are other girls that ended up living at Lichen Hall. Their home lives were that horrible. They live and work for the Whitlocks. For Mrs Whitlock more so that her husband. He's in his own world until he develops dementia. It is said that the Whitlock's son Wulfric was killed then his parents took his body away from the morgue. Also that he was seen sometime later in town very much alive... 

When one of the girls disappears the others start a frantic search. What they find is not good but Mrs Whitlock is hesitant to bring in the police. She also will not allow doctors or trips to the hospital. That was a bit puzzling at first. There are lots of rules living here. And you have to do what you are told. You have to be careful of going into the woods also. There is something out there. Something terrifying.

The ending was good but I wish it would have been explained in more detail without adding a lot. That doesn't make sense unless you know how rushed the ending kind of was. I think some of the first half of the story could have been skipped and more of what happened to the survivors added. What exactly happened to them and how were they saved. Maybe....

Thank you #NetGalley, #Berkly, for this ARC. This is my own thoughts about this book.

4 stars. 

About

A young woman sent to stay in a crumbling gothic manor will find haunting secrets creeping out of the surrounding dark woods in this new, chilling novel from the acclaimed author of The Lighthouse Witches.

In the midst of the woods stands a house called Lichen Hall. This place is shrouded in folklore—old stories of ghosts, of witches, of a child who is not quite a child.

Now the woods are creeping closer, and something has been unleashed.

Pearl Gorham arrives in 1965, one of a string of young women sent to Lichen Hall to give birth. And she soon suspects the proprietors are hiding something. Then she meets the mysterious mother and young boy who live on the grounds—and together they begin to unpack the secrets of this place. As the truth comes to the surface and the darkness moves in, Pearl must rethink everything she knew—and risk what she holds most dear.