Review -- Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn
Another Gothic Winner From Author Denna Raybourn
Silent on the Moor [Mira Books, 2009] is the third installment in Deanna Raybourn’s Victorian-era series featuring Lady Julia Grey. The first book in the series, Silent in the Grave won the 2008 Rita award from the Romance Writers of America for Best Novel with Strong Romantic Elements.
The Lady Julia Grey Series
Silent in the Grave [Mira Books, 2007] introduced Lady Julia Grey, the daughter of an earl trapped in an unhappy marriage. The first line of Silent in the Grave makes an indelible impression: “To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still twitching upon the floor.” After Edward’s death in the opening scenes of Silent in the Grave, Julia joins forces with the mysterious Nicholas Brisbane who was hired by her husband before his death to find out who was sending him threatening letters.
Lady Julia and Brisbane’s relationship continued to evolve in Silent in the Sanctuary [Mira Books, 2008] when they were thrown together to solve a mystery at the March ancestral home, Bellmont Abbey in Sussex.
Silent on the Moor
Silent on the Moor begins with Julia travelling (uninvited) to Grimsgrave Hall, Brisbane’s new home in a remote corner of Yorkshire. Julia’s sister, Portia, and their brother, Valerius, travel with her to provide a pretense of respectability. Upon her arrival, Julia is confronted with a series of mysteries involving the former owners of the Hall and their possible connection to a dark moment in Brisbane’s past.
Raybourn has created a wonderful heroine in Lady Julia Grey and a compelling hero in Nicolas Brisbane. Over the course of the series, Julia has been slowly shaking off many of the conventions of her day to become a fully realized, independent woman. While Brisbane is the ultimate enigmatic hero – dark, brooding, handsome and very intense.
Raybourn has a deft touch with the romantic elements of the plot. When Julia first sees Brisbane after they have been apart for many months, they embrace and Julia reflects, “I could feel the beat of his heart under my ear and it was the pulse of all the world to me.” The romantic chemistry between Julia and Brisbane has continued to intensify throughout the books and the reader can’t help rooting for the couple while despairing as to how they will ever overcome their differences in order to be together. This is a winning formula for keeping the reader on the edge of her seat.
Raybourn has a wonderful talent for evoking a sense of place. The setting of the Yorkshire moors is a deliberate homage to the Brontës, to whom there are more than a few passing references in the book. The atmosphere of the gloomy moors provides an air of menace which perfectly compliments the gothic undertones of the story.
The Silent series harkens back to the gothics of Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney who regularly hit the bestseller lists in the 1970s and 1980s. Gothics then went out of fashion for a time, but if the success of Raybourn’s Lady Julia Grey series is any indication, they are ready to make a come back. For fans of gothics, romances, mystery fiction or simply good storytelling, Silent on the Moor is a must-read.
Without giving away the ending, Silent on the Moor almost reads like the end of the series. However, according to her website, Raybourn intends to continue the series and will begin work on the next installment later this year. In the meantime, she is at work on a stand-alone book (also a historical) set in Scotland and Transylvania.
About Deanna Raybourn
Given the authentic feel of her books which are set in Victorian England, it may be surprising to learn that Deanna is a sixth generation Texan who now lives in Virginia. Following more than two decades as a struggling novelist, Raybourn took a year off from writing and read books to determine what she should write. After her year of reading, she made a list of all the successful elements in the books she loved. Very quickly after that, as she relates in a podcast with Harlequin, she began writing Silent in the Grave.
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