It’s no way to start a review, but I’ll admit there was actually a point when I wondered if this book was going to go down a path that I might not enjoy – I’m a complete wuss about things that go bump in the night, and although there’s often a particularly gothic feel to the author’s books, I’ve never come across one before that I feared might just give me nightmares.

The opening scenes entirely hooked me in, as Lewis paid a work-related visit to the ruins of All Hallows in the wilds of Dartmoor – at first an asylum, then a boys’ boarding school he attended in his youth, we feel some of the strong echoes of the past and his abject fear at being near the building once more. But should you share my slight aversion to the ghostly and supernatural, I can put your mind at rest – while you might just prefer to read this one in daylight, the book is never more than mildly disturbing and the enthralling story that unfolded ensured that I remained firmly pinned to my chair until I’d read the final page.

After that opening chapter the book follows a dual time line, the relatively short chapters alternating between 1903 and 1993. In the earlier timeframe, All Hallows is an asylum – I guess many will have come across similar settings before, where individuals sometimes find themselves within the walls because their behaviour doesn’t meet the expected norms of society and their families, and where they were often treated with appalling cruelty. But the book’s focus is on a comatose woman and a small child, their identities unknown, brought there to recover – the child, Harriet, is placed in the care of elderly nurse Emma Everdeen, in a locked room separated from the rest of the asylum, while they wait to see if the woman will regain consciousness.

In 1993 it’s a boarding school, something of a relic from the past where corporal punishment is still the norm and where life is distinctly uncomfortable for those who fail to conform – and life is initially very difficult for young Lewis, still overwhelmed with sadness following the death of his mother, but who forms an uneasy but welcome friendship with his room-mate Isak. In the nights, the boys hear noises from the empty rooms in the corridor above – and the stories steadily converge as they begin to unravel the mystery of what happened to Emma and Harriet, and why their spirits might be restless.

That’s my wholly inadequate attempt to set the scene… and perhaps I shouldn’t have even tried, because it doesn’t come anywhere near conveying quite how wonderful the story is. The main characters are superbly drawn – Emma blossoming as her growing love for young Harriet allows her to overcome her sadness over the loss of her own child, determined not to let her down, while Lewis moves on from his own sadness and awkwardness as the boys begin to unravel the mysteries of the past. But it’s certainly not just the two main characters, the supporting cast in both past and present are quite magnificent, quite wonderfully developed – and then there’s All Hallows itself, exceptionally well drawn and a brooding presence throughout both story lines, a character in its own right.

The timelines are exceptionally clever – particularly when they blur a little as the story progresses. And all those Gothic elements – this book draws on so many of the great classics of the genre (you’ll often experience that frisson of familiarity too), but at the same time succeeds in being entirely original. I have absolutely no idea how she does it, but the book itself really feels like a great gothic classic – it does comes as a surprise at times to be reminded that Lewis’ story is set in the 1990s. And after the steady unfolding of both stories, both totally compelling, the explosive ending had me on the edge of my seat, entirely invested in the characters, feverishly turning the pages and hardly breathing – quite wonderful writing.

As I read, I felt that the whole story was one that the author thoroughly enjoyed telling, allowing her imagination to soar – and that feeling becomes entirely infectious. I really can’t recommend this book highly enough – I hardly need to say that it will, without question, be one of my books of the year.

Happy publication day! And it comes in the perfect month of the year for thumps and bumps in the night and all things creepy.
The story hooked me from the beginning with Louis visiting the old insane asylum turned boarding school in the present as a real estate developer and encountering a terrifying apparition he remembers well from his childhood at the school. He and fellow misfit Isak attended All Hallows in 1993 while renovations are being done. They are assigned a room in the West wing where they hear strange sounds coming from the attic room above. When Louis investigates the noise, he finds a rocking chair moving on its own which he at first believes is the draft from the chimney. But that can't explain the sound of tiny running feet...
In 1903, a boat drifted to shore carrying an unconscious woman and a young girl. When it's determined that the woman is in a coma and will need long term care, she and the child are sent to All Hallows asylum. Emma Everdeen, a nurse at the asylum, is assigned to be the child's caregiver until her mother is well. To keep the child safe from the asylum patients, she and Emma are locked in the attic room. But everything isn't as it seems when the girl's mother wakes up.
Part mystery, part paranormal, and all creepy, this story will have chills creeping up your spine and have you looking over your shoulder at every noise. I love stories about old haunted buildings and the asylum setting was perfect for that. The ending seemed abrupt though and I wish we found out what eventually happened to the property and the old buildings.
I received an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

#ARoomintheAttic
#LouiseDouglas

When I requested this from Net Galley I never realised it was a ghost story!

This gothic storyline sinks its hooks into you right from the beginning. It is told in dual time starting from the present and flips between 1993 and 1903
unravelling the mystery of a young woman and her child washed ashore and subsequently taken to All Hallows for medical care.

In 1993 Lewis Tyler, mourning the loss of his mother, is sent to All Hallows, now a boarding school, where along with Isak, a boy he meets at the school, get caught in the mysteries!

Douglas’ writing is compelling. The pace is kept taut and the atmosphere is built up well. This book was written during lockdown and the author had to rely on images from her memory: to recreate the location of All Hallows from a memory of a derelict building is commendable.

Douglas thrives on characterisation. They are multifaceted and layered. For me, even the setting of All Hallows ( earlier as an asylum and later as a boarding school) was a character in itself! If only walls could speak, All Hallows would be ‘alive’.

Perfect read for the spooky season.

If you’re looking for a spooky book to read this Halloween then look no further, this is a real page turner. It’s dark, chilling and twisty and will have you looking over your shoulder. Set over two timelines 90 years apart, I liked all the characters and was certainly rooting for them at the end. I don’t usually read books about the paranormal but I must say I found it very interesting. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood books for letting me read and review this book.

What a great read for the month of October. Just creepy enough and full of mystery yet also takes on the themes of the power of friendship, motherhood, and redemption. I could not put this book down. The Room in the Attic is really two stories from two different times but the setting is at the same place, an asylum and yet they are connected. What was once an asylum in 1903 became a boarding school in 1993 and then finally closed.

Lewis is sent away to boarding school by his father and new step-mother after the loss of his mother. He meets his roommate, Isak, a troublesome child and deeply angry. Everyone warns Lewis to stay far away from Isak. However, they have a lot in common and seem to understand each other. Both were sent away by their families for not being wanted and being different at night they hear noises and sense that there is a presence in a room in the attic above them. Together they are determined to discover the history of the school and help to rewrite a sad history. Is it even possible?

Nurse Emma Everdeen is the oldest nurse at the asylum and a former patient. She is assigned to care for a small child who along with her mother were found in a boat wreck and badly injured. But all is not as it seems. The mother, unconscious and thought to be wealthy, is cared for by a young doctor may not be whom she seems. Nurse and Harriet are locked in the attic room where Nurse Emma feels something evil is lurking, something is not right. Nurse comes to care for Harriet, the young girl and along with the maid Maria and will stop at nothing to protect her.

A lot of intrigue and haunting. A creaky rocking chair, smells of smoke, visions, and messages scratched in the floorboards lead to questions that Lewis and Izak want answers. This is a delightful read and you will be transported back in time. It made me think of other books that featured characters wrongly placed in asylums because their families couldn’t deal with them or they had embarrassed their families like The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. The author does a wonderful job having the characters provide different perspectives that as the reader make you think of all the possibilities in this who dun-it. Put this on your TBR shelf, but don’t read it in the dark.

Many thanks to #netgalley #theroomintheattic #lousiedouglas #boldwoodbooks for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Another excellent book by Louise Douglas and it won't disappoint the reader.
This book grabs you from the very first pge. It flits from the story of Emma , a nurse in the asylum at All Hallows 1903 to Lewis who used to attend the boarding school that was based at All Hallows in 1993
Full of emotion and intrigue.
Excellent. What a book and what an ending!
Thanks to #NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review

The Room in the Attic is a hauntingly beautiful read that captures your attention from the first chapter. You will ignore everyone and everything around you until your eyes pass over the last word. Wow! This book is masterfully written. From the deeply detailed characters, which are each plagued with family issues. To the atmospheric setting around All Hollows Asylum, which draws you dangerously into its sinister arms, and does not want to let go. A storyline that will keep you guessing with twists and turns at every corner. All of this comes perfectly together for a haunting tale. That is told in a seamlessly written dual timeline that I loved!

On a cold, rainy evening in 1903, a woman and a young child are found floating in a rowboat, frozen and near death. They are rescued and taken to the All Hollows Asylum since they are able to care for both of them medically. The woman is in a coma and is given the royal treatment, since it is believed she comes from money. The young girl, Harriet, is entrusted to Nurse Emma, and taken to a room in the attic. They are locked in, on the final floor of the asylum so they are safe from the rest of the patients. They are given snippets of the day by Nurse Maria, who brings them food and gossip. Emma and Harriet form a tight bond, and day by day more of Harriet's story comes to light. Fast forward to 1993, Lewis, is still reeling from his mother's sudden death and his fathers is quick to remarry. Leaving Lewis to grieve and make sense of this new life on his own. When his father and new stepmother decide to send him to the All Hollows Boarding School. Lewis' new roommate Isak is a troubled young boy who is hated by everyone. Slowly but surely, Lewis begins to win him over, as more strange occurrences begin to happen. The creaking of a rocking chair, the bouncing of a ball, the sudden drop in temperature in the attic above. As the boys begin to investigate their lives quickly become entwined with Harriet and Emma's. You will read faster and faster as the mystery of All Hollows quickly unravels.

I am giving all the stars to this book! It is fantastically written, keeps you entranced, and makes chills run down your spine. Any book with an asylum is bound to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, but this book has so much more to give, than your typical ghost story. Trust me it is a perfect read for a crisp fall day. Thank you to Louise Douglas, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this eerie, chilling, entirely captivating story.

I don’t often read books that venture into the paranormal but I’m so glad I read this one!

This book has everything. A dramatic, twisting storyline, strong characters and good, well-paced writing! I do love dual timeline stories, but the addition of the characters in the separate timelines being able to interact was a great new twist and it worked really well!

I loved the character of Emma and (without spoiling anything!) felt she was treated well by the author.

I think this is an exceptional book and definitely one I’d recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

The Room in the Attic is as dark and atmospheric book as you can get and I found myself looking over my shoulder at the slightest noise.

The book has two time lines 1903 and l993 . Both locales are at All Hollows. First it was an insane asylum ; I could hear the screams and feel the cold.

Then it was a boys school and the atmosphere was even darker if possible. Lewis and Isak are room mates and they are deep into the history of what happened in 1903.

Chillingly told.

Louise Douglas has out done herself in The Room in The Attic.

I won't soon forget this book. I am glad I read it in the daytime.

Don't miss this one; preorder your copy today.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood books for a hauntingly good read.

What if you could change events of the past and ultimately affect the future by sending a warning, would you? Told in dual storylines from 1903 and 1993, Lewis and Isak attempt to do just that in Louise Douglas’s The Room in the Attic. This well-written, suspenseful novel will have you guessing until the end.

Well, well, well. I know why I love this authors books and she’s on my “auto” buys, but this book….this book was just outstanding and I had to give it my 5* which most know I hold back and I’m mean over!

This had everything I love.

Mystery
Suspense
Edge of my seat
Lots of questions I needed answers to…..right now!
Interesting characters and many with backgrounds you query over.

She lays the foundation and build it up in your mind brick by brick.
Two timelines that end up colliding.

1903. Then 1993

The gothic feel was eerie.

I want to tell you everything about this book, I’m so excited by it and eager to speak but you need to read it. There’s a huge amount I can’t tell you I don’t want to give anything away!

The Room in the Attic is a great title and more than fits the story.

The building…..
Asylum

Emma and Harriet were great characters. (1903 )

Boys school (1993) a school.

I’ve never read anything so captivating like this for a very long time.

Thank you to Netgalley, Boldwood Books for this ARC in return for my honest review. When I read the blurb for this book I was a little apprehensive due to the supernatural slant to the story. I decided to give it a go nonetheless as I've enjoyed Louise's stories and I'm so glad that I did. Told over the dual timelines of 1903 and 1993, this spooky story is a perfectly chilling read leading up to Halloween. I hope it's the huge hit that it deserves to be.

I was a little bit apprehensive when I started this book just with it having that supernatural twist but how wrong I was. What a wonderful but sad story that flits between 1903 and 1993 and different generations and their experience living at All Hallows. I was consumed right from the beginning and became absorbed in the two stories that were actually one. The characters and setting were so wonderfully described and well thought out. I'm so sad that it ended I just wanted to keep reading more.. Fantastic read

I thought this book was really good. I did think it dragged a bit in the middle but more than made up for it in the last half of the book. Dual time lines are always challenging and this one kinda blended together towards the end.
Most of this book was hard to put down, I enjoyed it.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy

Books that venture into the paranormal are typically not the books I choose to read. I love Louise Douglas’ books, however, and decided to give this a try. Wow, was I blown away! Set in 2 different time periods, this book intertwines the characters into a mind-blowing finale! Absolutely loved it! Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book!

My favorite style of story, a little bit supernatural, a historical mystery, a righting of wrongs, redemption and neat tie ins I really enjoyed this one. It reminds me of Kate Mortons books. The British setting is great very atmospheric and the three timelines add a lot of interest.

An utterly fabulous story told over several timelines which cleverly interweave with each other so that the characters are able to save each other in a different time.

Great characters and atmospheric writing sees a child and woman found unconscious in a raft in 1903. They are taken to an asylum and the child is cared for by an elderly nurse. The mother remains unresponsive and her doctor becomes obsessed with her and who they are.

In 1993 the asylum is now a boys boarding school to which young Lewis is sent following the death of his beloved mother. He hears the rocking of a chair and cries from the attic where he and his friend Isak discover the nurse and child were once kept locked away. They discover the fate of the two and together their try to rewrite the past.

Absolutely page turning and I literally stayed up all night to finish it. Amazing writing and highly recommended.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’d like to thank Boldwood Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Room In the Attic’ written by Louise Douglas in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

All Hallows was used as an asylum in 1903 and thereafter as a boarding school. Lewis Tyler was sent to All Hallows in 1993 and now works for an architectural firm. When he’s told to visit the site and advise on the possibility of redevelopment he’s filled with dread due to the unexplainable events Lewis and his room-mate Isak experienced there.

Ghost stories are not normally a genre I choose to read but when I started ‘The Room In The Attic’ my attention was caught from page one. This thriller is dark and creepy, telling the story of Nurse Emma Everdeen and the little girl Harriet who she cared for at the turn of the century, to 1993 and Lewis’s schoolyears at All Hallows, leading to the present time. Despite the chapters moving swiftly from one year to another, the passage of time makes perfect sense and enables the events from the three time periods to be told. I thought the middle of the story slowed down somewhat but as I got near to the conclusion it was so gripping I couldn’t stop reading until I’d reached the final page. Much to my surprise I enjoyed this novel and have no hesitation in recommending it.

Wow, oh wow! I LOVED it!!

I'm usually not a fun of stories with a kind of paranormal vibe, but I'm happily making an exception for this one.

The story is narrated in a dual timeline in 1903 and 1993 and the setting is a spooky building former asylum (1903) and boarding school (1993). The pace is very fast, with short, snappy chapters that adds to the "I'll just read another one" factor, which, in my case, ended up to reading it in almost one sitting.

The atmosphere is chilling and spooky, but the story will also move you and break your heart. Absolutely beautiful! It won't be my last Louise Douglas, for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #TheRoomInTheAttic

Set between two timelines in 1903 and 1993 and how one building and the people in it are affected by events across time.

The building, spooky and chilling of course, used to be an asylum and is now a boarding school, In the 1903 timeline, Harriet and her mum are found on a shipwreck. They are brought to the asylum Life here is harder than you can ever imagine and the novel really brought that home.

Wait until you read about Lewis who comes to All Hallows in the 1993 timeline. Yes, this is a very spooky and disturbing read that really grabbed my attention.