A haunting and emotional read that hooked me in from the very beginning, I highly recommend this book.

An unusual read across two time lines. There is the story of Billy in the 1930’s who leaves his family to be a companion to Jasper in the big house he lives in with his Mum and Uncle who are both authors. Edie and Charles both die which is thought to be a double suicide but is it. In the present day Anna is about to start digging into the past as being curator of the mill museum has access to documents from that time and the secrets start to come out. It’s like seeing a jigsaw puzzle coming together

Yorkshire in the 1930s, and Billy Shaw aged twelve, is sent to be a companion to another boy of similar age, Jasper, in 1932. Jasper lives in a large properly at the top of the moors, High Hob House, with his mother and uncle, Edie and Charles Harper. Both of these are rather bohemian people, and Jasper is a wild, eccentric child, with a violent temper. Billy narrates his unusual experiences in his own idiosyncratic northern, voice. We know from the first page in the novel that there is a violent dénouement with the apparent suicide in 1936 of both Edie and Charles at their house.
The story alternates the 1930s with the present - Anna, wanting to escape a bereavement in her native north-east, takes up residence as the custodian and manager of the mill house and property that Billy’s family once lived in, that is now a museum and local heritage centre. Frank Chambers, whose mother was Billy’s sister, lives in an adjacent farm, and tells Anna that the trustees of the museum are not being fully truthful about events. The reader is plunged into an immediate mystery, and Anna begins to suspect that the Harpers might not have committed suicide. She befriends a successful crime fiction writer Sam Klein, who is staying at High Hob House, and the whole sorry imbroglio is gradually uncovered.
The novel takes place in Wuthering Heights’ country near Haworth, and indeed, the mood of the narrative resonates with the raw passions and emotions that affected some of Emily Brontë’s famous characters in the wild and windy moors. It is an absorbing tale of how events can resonate throughout the years, as Anna uncovers the sordid past to present a truer version of what happened many years ago.

On the edge of the moors in West Yorkshire lies Potter's Pleasure Palace, an old mill building turned into a place of wonderment for young Billy Shaw. The Great War is over and the people of the area flock to The Palace to dance, skate, boat and enjoy the teas produced by Billy's mum. Billy gets the opportunity to become a companion to Jasper Harper, who lives at High Hob with his mother Edie and her brother Charles, a popular novelist. In modern times Ackerdean Mill is the site of a museum dedicated to the Harpers and the new custodian is Anna who is determined to solve the mystery of the deaths of the Harpers in 1936.

It took a while for me to get into this book, I'm not sure why as the setting is fairly local to me and of great interest. However once it clicked I was hooked. The characters are complex and there are layers and layers of intrigue which are barely touched upon, for example Anna's backstory haunts her yet it is only briefly touched upon. In fact there are lots of little gems that enrich this story - who was Charles' lover, who was the father of Jasper etc. They are all answered but in a natural way that doesn't really draw attention. That is what works so well here, there are few histrionics and the writing is very restrained yet the storyline is powerful and moving. A great read.

The Companion is a compelling read, a real page-turner. We experience the life of young Billy Shaw, his role as companion to the unruly Jasper and their life at Hob House with Jasper's mother Edie and her brother Charles, both writers. This is set against the story a couple of generations later of Anna Sallis, custodian of the local museum who is attempting to piece together the story of the mysterious "suicide" of Edie and Charles from documents she uncovers. It's a riveting mystery with many a twist and turn: Was it really suicide? Who is related to who? How have events influenced the characters? The setting is on the moors, evoking comparisons with Wuthering Heights and its wild and often disturbing atmosphere. This is Sarah Dunnakey's debut novel and this introduction to her work reveals a promising future, and a writer to look out for. A brilliant read.

Oakenshaw, Yorkshire, 1932 and Billy Shaw is happily helping out at Potter's Pleasure Palace, an old mill turned into 'the best entertainment venue in Yorkshire' His Ma along with sisters Maud and Peggy run the highly successful tea room. Life is good until Billy's life is turned upside down when Mr Potter answers an advert and sends him off to the house on the hill, High Hob, to be the companion of Jasper Harper, a boy of similar age, but not definitely not similar in nature. Jasper lives with mother Edie and her brother, Charles. Both are  authors who have fled the hustle and bustle of London to write in the relative quiet of Yorkshire.

Billy's life changes from the moment he steps over the threshold. Edie and Charles are  so wrapped up in their own worlds they care little about Jasper's increasingly wayward antics.  Billy remains Jasper's companion for four years before fleeing to London as the bodies of Charles and Edie are found, both dead, the result of an apparent suicide pact.

Fast forward to present day and Anna, is the new new custodian of Ackerdean Mill, once known as the Palace. Anna wants to drag Ackerdean Mill into the present day attracting new visitors and as she begins the task she chances upon documents relating to Charles and Edie and begins to doubt the suicide verdict and it is not long before old secrets begin to surface.

Written using a dual time line Dunnakey is wonderfully adept at using this device to slowly unravel Billy's life, the clues and revelations that Anna discovers from the people she meets in the village and the documentation and photographs she unearths. 

Dunnakey's writing is such that as the two narratives intertwine the reader is pulled one way and then the other until finally earth shattering secrets rise to the surface. and the story reaches its dramatic conclusion.

The characters are beautifully portrayed. I especially loved Billy. A sensitive boy with a love of birds, with the drive to make something of himself despite all the obstacles placed in his way.  Even Jasper had some appeal despite his violent and mean tendencies.

What really stood out for me was the imagery and the setting. I found myself transported to the wilds of the moors, feeling the warmth of the sun in the summer and the desolation and bleakness of winter. As a Yorkshire lass born and bred I felt quite homesick at times!

This novel had everything. Its a mystery, a love story and a historical novel all rolled into one and I loved it.

Thanks Orion Publishing Group and netgalley for this ARC.

A book that is spooky even if it's not meant to be. This one will leave a impression you'll not want to forget.

This is a brilliant mystery and I loved Billy Shaw's young character and his opening line of growing up in a palace although not a real palace between 1932 - 36. The palace was previously Ackerdean Mill and was turned into an entertainment venue with a roller skate rink, dance hall and swing boats. Billy's mother ran the palace tea room. When Billy is asked by the owner of the Palace, Nathaniel Potter, to be a companion to young Jasper Harper who lives with his eccentric mother Edie, and her equally eccentric brother Charles Harper, he moves into High Hob with them and his life takes on a different course.
In the present day Anna Sallis is now the custodian of the Ackerdean Heritage Centre. In her research into the Mill and palace she finds that in 1936 Edie and Charles Harper had committed suicide, but there are stories that suicide was only the official version and that they may have been murdered. Anna sets out to get to the bottom of the Harper's deaths and solve the secrets of the past.
There are twists in this and although I guessed some of them I found that I was happy to just enjoy the book and be pleasantly surprised when certain things were revealed!
Look forward to more by this author.

This book will haunt you long after you have finished it. It’s such a rich unravelling of personal stories and secrets of so many individuals most of whom you really get to care about – and some of whom you definitely don’t! As well as the strong characters, the lively historical descriptions of a bygone Yorkshire is another of the author’s strengths – you can tell she has a keen interest in local history, and an imagination and an ability to retell it, that makes it absolutely ‘live’.
Anna Sallis is the newly appointed custodian of the Ackerdean Heritage Centre based in an old Yorkshire Mill. She is determined to bring the area’s history and heritage to a new generation of visitors and locals. The story is based in 2 time periods – present day and the 1930s when the Mill was a ‘pleasure palace’ for daytrippers; with fairground rides, dancing, roller skating, tea rooms and picnics and a forest nearby for smooching couples. Events imagined by Anna, when she gets engrossed in sorting through the ephemera of the past are written so vividly, you really feel them too - the author has an uncanny ability to do this. Anna is determined to get to the bottom of the joint suicide of 2 authors who live ‘up on the hill’; the accepted version of which does not ring true for her. One of the locals in particular, who is also on the Board of Trustees does not seem to want the past delved too deeply into.
We meet Billy Shaw and his family in 1932, who live in a cottage adjacent to the Mill. His Mum runs the highly successful tea room, and we learn of Billy’s total fascination with all the Pleasure Palace has to offer and his ideas and ambitions for its future - which he tries to share with the owner, Nathaniel Potter. His future in the Pleasure Palace seems thwarted when Potter encourages him to answer an advertisement for a Companion to the son of one of the authors on the hill – Jasper, a particularly disturbing individual; but Billy is positive and sees this as a possible way to get a good education and ‘ahead’ in the world.
The repercussions of individuals’ actions, events and secrets due to social taboos, and legal implications resonate through the future generations. Later, the realisation that denying these past events (to protect the privacy of ancestors) is also a form of denying their lives and realities, is what the book flourishes on. I loved this book – I wanted more – more about Jasper’s Father, more about Charles’ relationships; but the main (sub)story for me was one which no amount of extra information would help – that of Billy and Lizzie.