Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9502010028
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY HARRIET LITTLE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ I suppose Barbara Erskine's newest novel really is categorized as "romantic suspense" which, as a genre, I tend not to like. All I do know, however, is that were it not for the physical demand of sleep, I would have read "Midnight Is a Lonely Place" at one go! Erskine's book was, for me, nearly impossible to lay aside.
Initially, the plot is simple. Kate Kennedy, an English biographer whose book about Jane Austen made her famous, needs a quiet place to work, for both privacy and to forget her poet-lover who has gone to the United States on a lecture tour. A tip from an old friend leads Kate to rent an isolated cottage near the North Sea for six months. Settling down to work on her biography of Lord Byron, however, proves difficult as her landowner/neighbor's lives soon enter Kate's. Greg, the Lindseys' oldest son and an artist, resents Kate's presence in the cottage which he had been using as a painting studio. He and his sister Allison stage "ghostly" diversions to force Kate away. And here comes the scary supernatural element. As part of a school project, Allison has been excavating a dune on the beach. She is convinced that it is really an ancient grave. Of course, she's right and the parallel plot soon emerges which reveals a Roman-era love triangle involving long-dead people who must possess the living to fulfill their dying desires.
In terms of atmosphere and setting, Erskine creates really spooky effects. Also, Kate is a believable character throughout, one who reacts realistically to increasingly strange happenings. There's love interest too, with both Greg and Kate's poet, and the ancient lovers become ever more real as the novel progresses, and past and present plots come closer to merging.
Harriet Little teaches at James River High School.
by CNB