2023 gothic fantasy, first of a planned series. Winifred Hall takes up
a position as governess at Witchwood Manor, complete with brooding
lord, old lady in the attic, enigmatic butler, and other traditional
strangenesses.
But Winifred is not what she appears: she has a variety of
magical tools and defences, not to mention the ghost of a much-loved
cat. This is all loosely tied into Atwater's existing chronology
that's set rather earlier, but I didn't have any trouble pickup up the
backstory.
So there's some traditional gothic, and a lot of Celtic mythology,
translated through a fairy-tale sensibility. There's also some decent
research on Victorian customs, particularly those surrounding death.
This is investigative fantasy, with Winnie and others working to find
out what's going on and how they can get out of it (ideally without
ending the world).
It's both great fun and terrifying, as fairy tales should be. I will
definitely be reading more from Atwater.