Heâs an Artist. His Medium? Wings, Tails, Scales, Beaks and Claws.
Credit.Deena So Oteh
April 16, 2021, 12:32 p.m. ET
âByrne Hall had a listening, whispering air.â This description of the Queen Anne-style mansion at the center of Elizabeth Brooksâs eerie and addictive Gothic novel
THE WHISPERING HOUSE (Tin House, 378 pp., paper, $16.95) could also be applied to its heroine, the eavesdropping, willowy Freya Lyell, who becomes entangled with Byrne Hall and its inhabitants. Freya, bookish and sensible, has always lived in the shadow of her âfrightening and beautifulâ elder sister, Stella, and never more so since Stellaâs body was discovered near the seaside village of Bligh. Five years later Freya, now 23, travels to Bligh from London for a wedding reception at Byrne Hall, only to discover a portrait of Stella hanging on a wall. This portrait, and the artist who painted it â Cory Byrne â launch Freya into the mystery of what really happe