This kind of behaviour and response is so deeply ingrained in us all, that the fact that there is only one man in a cast of six makes no difference – you still keenly feel the weight of male power, and the feeling of helplessness that it instils in women. Almost as frightening is seeing women allying themselves with men like this; Mary is the anti-suffrage, Trump-supporting female who either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the damage she’s inflicting on her fellow women by enabling men in power. With a husband afflicted with serious health issues, Ivy feels the only way she will find peace and face the future is if she gets to the truth of what happened long ago when as Ivy Cardew, the daughter of a struggling doctor, she was helping him with nursing duties. This mystery of what happened at the country manor house of the Tremains is slowly revealed and the terrible repercussions that followed in the wake of the fire, including the inquest. The family that includes Edward Tremain, the heir to Polneath, the father of William, is a man Ivy fell in love with. In a narrative loaded with twists and turns aplenty, with its wide range of characters, little is as it appears, we learn that in this small community, everyone had secrets, both upstairs, with the Tremain family, and downstairs, with the servants. Set almost 400 years in the past, the core themes of this story could apply to any aspect of female life in the 21st century. Even following a period of 28 weeks in which 81 women were killed, with male suspects in every case, women still aren’t being listened to (extra police presence will not make us feel safer) and will routinely get shut down in debates with men for being hysterical or too emotional, even for calmly stating reasonable arguments. Alice is continually treated in this manner by both Matthew and Mary, especially as she digs deeper into what’s been happening in her absence.

Beth Underdown - School of Arts, Languages and Cultures Beth Underdown - School of Arts, Languages and Cultures

So when the publisher asked if I’d like a copy sent to me in the mail, I did not hesitate for one second. The story shows how women were both powerful and powerless at the same time, more than a hundred years ago, although I know that in some places this didn't change much. But it also triggers memories of 30 years ago when another boy died in traumatic circumstances, and she's been left haunted by his death ever since. The story flits between the 2 timelines seamlessly and both are full of mystery, deception and tragedy.

Well, there’s plenty of fire and brimstone in this enjoyable gothic tale which is especially resonant in the earlier timeline. Ivy, though not necessarily likeable or the most reliable of narrators, conveys how much the emotive events of 1888 have obsessed her and affected her life. In the 1918 section, Ivy has married Richard Boscawen who is the coroner. She has always regretted not marrying the love of her life, Edward Tremain. She has recently found out her son has been killed in the war, and is determined to find out exactly how he died. When she reads in the deaths section of the newspaper that Edward’s son had died in the war she begins writing to Edward in the hopes of rekindling their friendship and perhaps take it further, now that her husband does not have long to live. This lapses from 1888 and 1918 which spans a whooping number of years that accumulate a lot of dark secrets within family, relationships and is written in the style that I’ve come to love from Beth Underdown.

Play Review: The Witchfinder’s Sister - The London Horror Play Review: The Witchfinder’s Sister - The London Horror

My verdict? A chilling show that links the 17th and 21st centuries in a truly terrifying way – atmospheric sound design takes the production to a whole new level. It is quite a deep and dark read. It is intense yet a slow burn at the same time. The story is set not that long ago when women had few rights at work and at home. They were expected to do anything without questioning it or objecting because they could be easily replaced. But, at the same time, women were thought of as fragile and unable to cope with life’s tragedies. Ivy was determined to seek the truth out in the past and present, but could she bear the truth?

Beth's fiction

Superbly researched and with great attention to detail, the story is so atmospheric and descriptive. It’s very much a slow release story, with complex and in some cases, violent family relationships. There are some characters that are not particularly likeable at all. In fact I wasn’t always too fond of Ivy if I’m honest. I thought her at times selfish, hankering for a life that she felt was denied her, rather than accepting the life she had. Not everyone is as they seem, more than one character has secrets of their own and there were times when I was just one step ahead of Ivy as she reconnected with the past. As the story moves forward, I understood the relevance of the book’s title and became engrossed in Ivy’s quest for the truth about the death of her son and her wish to fully understand the events of that night at Polneath and to finally be able to put those ghosts to rest. The novel opens in 1918, with Ivy Boscawen trying to come to terms with the death of her son, Tim, shot dead in the trenches of the Western Front. Ivy is desperate to know exactly what happened to Tim, but after speaking to some of his fellow soldiers what she discovers about her son’s death makes her feel even more distressed. Worse still, the loss of Tim triggers memories of another boy, William Tremain, who died thirty years earlier in a fire at the Great House in Polneath, Cornwall. Ivy, whose father was the Polneath doctor at the time, has been haunted by William’s tragic death ever since and has never been able to shake off her feelings of guilt about her actions in the aftermath of the fire. Dark an atmospheric as it may be, I found it interesting but a little too slow for my taste. It was quite obvious from the beginning that all characters had something to hide and although Ivy very bravely set out to find the truth, she's hindered by her own experiences and expectations.