What Happened at the Abbey (The Strathbairn Trilogy Book 1) by Isobel Blackthorn

Rating: ★★★★ 

Genre: Gothic Fiction

Format: Paperback

Pages: 326

Synopsis: 

When Ingrid flees a violent husband to become a housekeeper in the Scottish Highlands, she discovers the family she works for has a much darker history than her own.

Who haunts Strathbairn? Why are the adult McCleod children at each other’s throats? And why does the youngest sneak off at night? As Ingrid searches for answers, she grows ever more fearful that her husband will track her down.

Set in late 19th century Scottish Highlands, WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ABBEY is a gothic mystery brimming with intrigue, ghostly drama, and family secrets.

Review: 

"Oh, to be a bat. To fly off when most of the rest of the world sleeps, and feast on other, lesser, creatures of the night. The freedom. The quiet. Away from the clamors of the day. Away from judgements and condemnations, and so many inquisitive eyes."

When Ingrid flees with her daughter from an abusive life, her hope is to start a new life. Going back to her homeland of Scotland, taking a position as housekeeper for a prominent family, she must protect herself and her daughter. Little does she know that she has stepped into a family that holds many dark and disturbing secrets. As the secrets are slowly revealed, each one becomes more disturbing and Ingrid realizes how dysfunctional this family truly is. 

Putting her trust in another has proven to be a mistake, but in doing so has also provided her with an unexpected freedom. 

This story has so much mystery and intrigue that it is quite surprising as each one comes to light. Ingrid and her daughter Sarah are the light of the story that shines in the darkness that is deeply seated within the walls of Strathbairn. The McCleod family are so filled with dark hearts and disturbed souls, such unlikable characters, and yet one could not help but feel some pity for their plight. A past that forever haunts them. So much dissention and mistrust abound between them that leads them on a continuous dark path of doom. The past forever has a gripping hold, shattering their lives throughout their many years. 

The atmosphere is foreboding as the setting is in an isolated area in the highlands of Scotland. An old farm not far from an abandoned Abbey. A mire that holds a dark secret. Gloomy days and dark misty moonlit nights with seemingly voices on the wind. Haunting in the gloaming of the night.

A very captivating gothic story sure to entertain fans of the genre.

Goodreads Author Link:

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Amazon Author Link:

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Author Website:

https://isobelblackthorn.com/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isobel Blackthorn is an award-winning author of unique and engaging fiction. She writes gripping mysteries, historical fiction and dark psychological thrillers. Her Canary Islands collection begins with The Drago Tree and includes A Matter of Latitude, Clarissa’s Warning and A Prison in the Sun. Her interest in the occult is explored in The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey and the dark mystery A Perfect Square. 

Her dark thriller The Cabin Sessions was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award 2018 and the Ditmar Awards 2018. Isobel’s  biographical short story ‘Nothing to Declare’ which forms the first chapter of Emma’s Tapestry was shortlisted for the Ada Cambridge Prose Prize 2019.  A Prison in the Sun was shortlisted in the LGBTQ category of the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards 2020 and the International Book Awards 2021. And The Unlikely Occultist: A biographical novel of Alice A. Bailey received an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Reader’s Favorite Book Awards.

Isobel writes non fiction too. She is the author of the world’s only biography of Theosophist and mother of the New Age movement Alice Bailey – Alice A. Bailey: Life & Legacy.

Isobel’s first work, which she wrote in 2008, is Voltaire’s Garden. This memoir is set in the mid 2000s and tells the story of building a sustainable lifestyle B&B in Cobargo on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, which gained international attention when a firestorm razed the idyllic historic village on New Year’s Eve 2019.

Isobel’s writing appears in journals and websites around the world, including Esoteric Quarterly, New Dawn Magazine, Paranoia, Mused Literary Review, Trip Fiction, Backhand Stories, Fictive Dream and On Line Opinion. Isobel was a judge for the Shadow Awards 2020 long fiction category. Her book reviews have appeared in New Dawn Magazine, Esoteric Quarterly, Shiny New Books, Sisters in Crime, Australian Women Writers, Trip Fiction and Newtown Review of Books.

Isobel’s interests are many and varied. She has a long-standing association with the Canary Islands, having lived in Lanzarote in the late 1980s. A humanitarian and campaigner for social justice, in 1999 Isobel founded the internationally acclaimed Ghana Link, uniting two high schools, one a relatively privileged state school located in the heart of England, the other a materially impoverished school in a remote part of the Upper Volta region of Ghana, West Africa.

Isobel has a background in Western Esotericism. She holds 1st Class Honours in Social Studies, and a PhD from the University of Western Sydney for her ground-breaking research on the works of Alice A. Bailey. After working as a teacher, market trader and PA to a literary agent, she arrived at writing in her forties, and her stories are as diverse and intriguing as her life has been.

Isobel has performed her literary works at events in a range of settings and given workshops in creative writing.

British by birth, Isobel entered this world in Farnborough, Kent, She has lived in England, Australia, Spain and the Canary Islands.

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