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Publisher’s Summary

Three enigmatic sisters. A Boxing Day hunt gone awry. One story, the real story, is finally coming to light.

1999: When successful writer Gillian Larking receives a letter from the nephew of an old friend, she knows that her past has finally caught up with her. Violet Claybourne, her old boarding school roommate, was a girl who captivated Gillian with stories of her charming sisters and their picturesque home at Thornleigh Hall.

Violet Claybourne pulled Gillian into her life, into her family, and changed Gilly’s path forever. Violet Claybourne also spent the past sixty years in a psych hospital, and now she wants Gillian to tell her story.

The real story.

1939: Gillian knew upon meeting the Claybourne girls at Thornleigh Hall that they were something more. Rich, enigmatic, bright, unafraid of the world around them, a foreign concept to quiet, unassuming Gilly. Meeting Violet, Emmeline, and Laura was like entering a new world. Gilly longed to be a part of them, and when a terrible Boxing Day hunt goes awry, she gets that wish. But only in a way more terrible than she could ever have imagined. Soon enough Gillian has to confront just how deep her loyalty to the Claybourne girls runs, and what it might cost her, and them, in the process.

What I Loved

Gothic vibes ooze out of The Undoing of Violet Claybourne. We meet shy, quiet Gillian as a schoolgirl at a boarding school whose life turns upside down after meeting her new roommate, Violet Claybourne. Violet’s life with her three older sisters on a sprawling country estate is vastly different from Gillian’s lonely upbringing after her mother’s death and her father sending her off to boarding school. It’s easy for Gillian to get swept up in romanticizing her new friend’s life and wishing it was her own.

When Gillian gets the chance to visit Thornleigh House for the holidays, her life will never be the same. She is enchanted by the family’s lifestyle and doesn’t immediately see the cracks beneath the surface. The Claybournes’ world is rapidly declining in the interwar years, yet they act as though nothing has changed. They continue shopping in town without paying their tabs, and we hear murmurs from various members about how life “isn’t what it used to be” when it comes to maintaining staff and social status. Gillian, however, remains blind to the strained familial relationships, at one point thinking that if she had what Violet did with her sisters, she would cherish it. Her naivety makes for an interesting contrast with the reader’s growing awareness that something is deeply wrong at Thornleigh House.

Thornleigh House itself is Gothic incarnate—complete with a mysteriously burned wing, leaking ceilings, and a sprawling estate with a lake and dark woods. The relationships between the family, the staff, and the reclusive man who lives in the gate cottage all collide after a Boxing Day hunt changes everything. The novel embraces so many perfect Gothic tropes, yet they don’t feel forced or overwhelming. Instead, they weave together seamlessly, creating a richly atmospheric mystery that kept me turning pages. I devoured this book in two sittings!

What I Didn’t

I love a good prologue or introduction—it’s one of my favorite hallmarks of a modern Gothic novel. The setup of a mystery that gives readers a few hints and lures them in is something I always enjoy. That said, my one small gripe with The Undoing of Violet Claybourne is that the setup gives away a fairly significant piece of the puzzle right from the start. Combined with a big revelation in the publisher’s summary, I felt a little bit of the magic of solving the mystery was diminished.

That being said, this is a minor issue in an otherwise compelling and atmospheric read. If my only complaint is that I wanted just a touch more suspense in the opening, I’d say that speaks to how well the novel delivers as a whole!

Favorite Line

“I wanted desperately for Violet’s sisters to notice me, for them to see me as more than a mere schoolgirl. I remembered the vow I had made after surviving my climb across the roof – my vow to do something with my life, to be somebody. I decided they would notice me. They had to. This was my opportunity, the one I had been waiting for, the chance to be someone different, someone better. This was real life beginning at last.”

Emily Crtichley, The Undoing of Violet Claybourne

Last Words

If you love brooding estates, tangled family secrets, and stories that unravel between past and present timelines, The Undoing of Violet Claybourne is an excellent pick. It’s a mesmerizing blend of historical fiction and Gothic mystery, with beautifully haunting prose and an irresistible slow-burn tension.