The Parlour Game Book Cover The Parlour Game
The Corvidae Hauntings
Jennifer Renshaw
Young Adult, New Adult, Gothic Fiction, Historical Fantasy
Independently Published
October 4, 2022
Kindle, Paperback
409

London, 1873.

Ivy Granger, an amateur botanist, is plagued by disturbing dreams and faceless whispers. Misunderstood by her father, she fears for her sanity - threatened with the asylum or worse, the hands of a man she loathes.

But a stranger at her mother’s funeral reveals Ivy’s world has been a lie and she could have a different life, for she is capable of so much more...

Miss Earnshaw, London’s most renowned spiritualist, is Ivy’s only hope of revealing what secrets her mother took to the grave and discovering her true purpose.

Ivy’s journey for knowledge takes her to Blackham House, a building haunted by a terrible past - full of macabre artefacts and ancient studies of the supernatural. But behind closed doors, the Blackhams collect more than relics alone, and Ivy will soon find herself at the centre of a conspiracy spanning generations and a hidden evil waiting to be unleashed.

We cannot fathom or control the bridges between life and death, but there are signs and miracles that slip through, guiding us, giving us hope our bonds to loved ones are not broken.

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The Parlour Game, the first book in Jennifer Renshaw’s new series The Corvidae Hauntings, is a highly engaging Gothic thriller you will have a hard time putting down. Tensions build on both the natural and supernatural planes as Ivy Granger follows the pull of the voices she has heard since she was a child. Her father’s threats of marriage or assulym along with the appearance of the spiritualist, Miss Earnshaw, at her mother’s funeral solidifies a search for an understanding of who she is. When she is finally able to escape to London, Miss Earnshaw has disappeared and all signs point to the powerful but cursed Blackham House. Infiltrating as a common servant with the hope of gaining information on Miss Earnshaw’s whereabouts, Ivy soon realizes that sinister forces, intent on destruction, are at work and she may be powerless, both supernaturally and as a women in that day and age, to stop it.

But you cannot hide from yourself. That is the path to self-destruction. It is necessary to embrace your differences. There is power in your gifts.”

For fans of Gothic thrillers, The Corvidae Hauntings looks to be a captivating new series. Packed full of dark settings, supernatural occurances and characters walking the line of sanity, The Parlour Game leads you on a suspenseful excursion into Victorian London for a murder mystery experience. Ivy’s struggles to overcome not only society’s expectations for a woman but the internal struggle to understand the voices that have plagued her her entire life are overlaid on the bigger picture of dark forces looking to gain a foothold in the human realm through willing or unwilling mortals. This combination results in a highly entertaining story that keeps you engaged on many levels from beginning to end.

Jennifer’s British sensibilities are the finishing touch on this classically English genre. Her writing flows perfectly with the content allowing the reader to get lost in the story. While The Parlour Game is part of a series, Ivy’s current struggles wrap up nicely by the end of the book and it is easily read as a stand alone. I look forward to seeing what comes next in this fight and with Ivy’s embracement of her supernatural gifts. “At that moment, I understand I am part of something bigger than me; together the women are stronger, as were my mother and aunt when the performed as one. Some men, like Victor Blackham and Frank, are afraid of the power women wield when they grow to their potential, when we are released from the confinement of social restrictions and political restraints.”

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