Totally captivated by this book! It has a bit of everything I like - historical fiction, mystery and a touch of spookiness! Fabulous storyline that really pulls everything together fantastically at the end.

What a great book. The book covers two different timelines, one in the past and one in the present. When a boat is found drifting with a small child and a woman assumed to be the child mother they are taken into the local asylum to be cared for. The woman was badly beaten and is unconscious after suffering a blow to the head so the child is given to one of the elderly nurses working there to look after until the lady recovers.
Forward to the present day and it is now a boarding school which is where Tyler has now been sent due to his nonconformists ways. The book switches back and forth following the lives of these people and how they intertwine with one another.
I was riveted from start to finish and would highly recommend giving it a try.

A new author for me and I thoroughly enjoyed her style of writing! A story told across two time periods and by two different people! Very believable and really wanted me wanting more! Read in a day! Would highly recommend

A gripping story from the first page, beautifully written and expertly handled. The reder is in safe hands from start to finish and it is a relly powerful and moving story. Fantastically drawn characters and a well-worked denouement. Highly recommended.

Two viewpoints: Lewis and nurse Emma in a school in Dartmoor. Can Lewis solve the mystery of Emma's death 90 years before? An intriguing read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book.

The Room in the Attic is a story with alternating narrators. Starting with present day, Lewis and his recollection of his time at a boarding school called All Hallows. Lewis’s employer has purchased the abandoned school to develop the property into luxury accommodation. Lewis is tasked with taking pictures and submitting a preliminary report. But dread begins to fill Lewis before he even gets to the site and it only worsens when he arrives. Nurse Emma Everdeen is an elderly nurse in 1903 currently working and living at the All Hallows asylum. A woman and child has been found close to death in a fishing boat and they have been brought to the asylum as the local doctor does not have the resources to deal with a comatose woman. Nurse Emma is placed in charge of the young child. So begins a tale that switches between timeframes and characters. I enjoyed the way the story intertwines together between the two timelines and how conditions were equally abysmal in both timelines. The treatment of the patients at the asylum and the treatment of the boys at the boarding school were told in such a way you felt their spirits being broken. This is a bit of a magical tale and some may not enjoy the way the story develops but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Characters were well developed, storylines were interesting and I found myself wanting to read faster and find out what happened. I look forward to Louise Douglas’s next book.

What can I say? I enjoyed this book from cover to cover!
This is a book with two interwoven stories, both set within the same building, but in different periods of time.

One is the set in 1993, and is the story of Lewis, a 13 year old boy who is sent off to bording school by his dad and his new step-mum. Along with his room mate, he starts to investigate the history of the building after hearing noises is the attic room above, and stumbling upon a gruesome find after a storm distroys part of a building.

The second is set in 1903, and is the story of a child and her nurse in an asylum. The child has been found in a boat, along with a woman who is in a bad way. They are taken to the nearby asylum to be cared for until the woman regains consciousness. The child is assigned a nurse, and they are locked in the attic to protect them for the inmates of the asylum. The story unfolds as the child gradually starts to reveal details of her life with her mother. The nurse starts to suspect that all is not as it first appears, and that the child could be in danger.

Both stories run side by side throughout the book, but come together at the end in a dramatic turn around.
A brilliant read, well writtern and you get to care about the people involved in both stories.
I loved every minute of the story, and will be sure to look out for this author again.

The Room In The Attic by Louise Douglas is a fantastic dual timeline novel that drew me in from the start.
There are two interconnecting tales that are set in 1903 and 1993. Both take place in an asylum but in 1993 it is now a boys school.
The atmosphere is dark and more than a little creepy. There are two similar but different friendships that are trying to survive and protect in a cruel world. The desire to protect the innocent is very strong, crossing over between both time periods.
Time is explored within the novel. Is it possible for two time periods to exist simultaneously, crossing over at key points?
Tormented souls cannot rest. As a malevolent spirit continues to make its presence felt, goodness too shines through to counter balance evil.
The loss of a mother is painful but the veil between life and death is thin at times.
Louise Douglas employs techniques used in the traditional Gothic horror tradition. The darkness of the night mirrors the darkness of the souls as there are more than just a few things that go bump – including my heart!
The Room In The Attic was a fabulous read. It totally consumed me and I cannot wait to read more by Louise Douglas.
I received a free copy via Net Galley from Rachel’s Random Resources. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

1903: Emma Everdeen is a nurse at Old Hallows Asylum when she is tasked with looking after Harriet, a young girl found with her mother aboard a boat drifting out to sea.

1993: Lewis Tyler is sent to Old Hallows, now a boarding school where he meets roommate Isak. Lewis is convinced the school is haunted and as he and Isak look into the history of the old asylum, they discover Emma Everdeen was wrongly convicted of a heinous crime. Can they help right the wrong that occurred all those years ago?

A chilling tale which was a great read.

One windy and rainy night in 1903, a fishing crew discovers an unconscious woman and a five-year-old child in a deserted boat floating at sea off the Devon coast. Once rescued, they are taken to All Hallows, an asylum on Dartmoor, and cared for by a 70-year-old woman, Nurse Emma Everdeen. In an effort to protect the child from the inmates, the nurse carries the child up to a room in the attic to care for her until her mother is nursed back to health.

Nearly 100 years later, misunderstood and grieving, 13-year-old Lewis and his equally lost friend find themselves billeted in this same isolated place. Now repurposed as the All Hallows Boarding School, Lewis Tyler is banished here when his father remarries. While the dorms are being repaired after a flood, Lewis and his friend, Isak, are relocated to a room in the attic corridor in the eaves of the boarding school. Immediately, they sense that something terrible must have happened here. They hear frightening noises in the middle of the night and the wails and moans keep them terrified. Is there something haunting the old school? Is there someone up there?

Thoroughly impressed with Douglas’s writing! This is my first introduction to this author and my first ghost story! Douglas keeps a tight reign on the bonds tying the plot, setting and characters together and has immense talent for capturing the mood and atmosphere of a place. Since this book was written during lockdowns, Douglas needed to rely on an image forever implanted in her memory. She was nine years old and riding in the back of her dad’s car when she remembers driving past a massive derelict old building. It must have had quite an impact for her to draw from this memory in crafting All Hallows.

Douglas’s characterization is phenomenal! I can understand why these characters are the most favourite of all she has written. They’re multifaceted, layered and I loved witnessing their growth when they experienced love. I think you’ll agree with me that All Hallows is itself a character! I also appreciated how she explored the different ways we cope with grief and the concept of motherhood. I was shocked to discover that Douglas prefers the organic approach to writing versus plotting because the story is cleverly orchestrated, and the mystery element is developed with such skill. I couldn't put the book down! Her homage to the Gothic classics was not lost on me! I spotted 4 references.

This ghost story set in a Victorian asylum-turned-boarding school on Dartmoor needs to make it onto your reading list this Fall.

Although not a fan of the romance genre, I will be purchasing her next novel which she describes as a complex love story. I can be sure that it’ll have a gothic element and that it will be extremely well written and feature well crafted characters.

Publishes October 12, 2021.

I was gifted this advance copy by Louise Douglas, Boldwood Books and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I love historical novels especially novels with a dual timeline and I love gothic stries especially those set in atmospheric places such as Asylums so this was a must read for me and I wasn't disappointed. It was gothic, atmospheric and rich with historic imagery. I loved it

The Room in the Attic by Louise Douglas

A timeline novel 1903 and 1993.

1903
A fisherman finds a woman and a girl in a shipwrecked boat. The Woman has been beaten , they are taken to All Hallows , an asylum on creepy Dartmoor . The Girl is taken to be cared for by A nurse in the attic.

Fast forward to 1993 , and the asylum is now a boarding school . A young boy who's father has remarried is sent there , he meets Is an another young boy. Due to refurbishment they are put in the attic where at night they hear cries. A haunting creepy story that left me wanting to keep reading just another page and then another .

In 1993, Lewis Tyler is rushed off to All Hallows Boarding School in the wilds of Dartmoor after his widowed father remarries. For Lewis, a boy used to the best of everything, All Hallows is a rude awakening. He befriends Isak, another lonely boy when the two are sent to live in the attic while the dorms are being refitted. Frightening cries, moans and wails can be heard in the night and the boys are terrified. Determined to find out who or what is haunting the old school, the boys uncover the past and the secrets of what used to be All Hallows Asylum and what happened there nearly one hundred years before. A spooky, tightly knit coming of age story

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review

The book took a few twists I really wasn’t expecting, which took it up from 3 to 3.5 rounded up. The writing and the character development is not amazing but you keep turning pages to find out what will happen next.