The Vanishing at Castle Moreau

Author: Jaime Jo Wright
Genre: Dual-time Suspense
Pages: 384
Release Date: April 4, 2023
Publisher: Bethany House

A haunting legend. An ominous curse. A search for a secret buried deep within the castle walls.

In 1870, orphaned Daisy François takes a position as housemaid at a Wisconsin castle to escape the horrors of her past life. There she finds a reclusive and eccentric Gothic authoress who hides tales more harrowing than the ones in her novels. As women disappear from the area and the eerie circumstances seem to parallel a local legend, Daisy is thrust into a web that could ultimately steal her sanity, if not her life.

In the present day, Cleo Clemmons is hired by the grandson of an American aristocratic family to help his grandmother face her hoarding in the dilapidated Castle Moreau. But when Cleo uncovers more than just the woman's stash of collectibles, a century-old mystery and the dust of the old castle's curse threaten to rise again . . . this time to leave no one alive to tell the sordid tale.

Award-winning author Jaime Jo Wright seamlessly weaves a dual-time tale of two women who must do all they can to seek the light amid the darkness shrouding Castle Moreau.

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Reviewer: Anna Bottoms

Jaime Jo Wright is the queen of dark stories laced with hope. Her writing gives you enough shivers, angst, and twisty suspense to keep you up all night. If you dare. Yet each book has a redemptive factor that takes you in a direction you never anticipate. This is what makes her stand above the crowd. 

The Vanishing At Castle Moreau grabbed me right from the start, and I was hooked. Within the castle itself, the lives of three women in three timelines with choices to make are entwined. It is written in a way that gives it a life of its own. The girl alone with her nightmares, Daisy trapped by her circumstances and surrounded by secrets, and Cleo hiding at the castle with secrets of her own.

Questions abound as you read through the book. Who is the woman with the crooked hand? Are the rumors about the castle true? Will Daisy and Cleo be consumed by the secrets or freed by the truth? And for those romantics out there, will they connect with the handsome, brooding men who are part of the Moreau legacy? 

Each character in the book is unique in their own way, even the side characters adding color and depth to the overall story. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

I was given a copy of this book through NetGalley courtesy of Bethany House Publishers. This is my honest opinion of the book.

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Reviewer: Mindy Houng

"Beauty exists where love begins."
 
Jaime Jo Wright's beautiful craftsmanship never fails to amaze me. Her magical touch seamlessly weaves threads of Gothic suspense with faith and just the right amount of romance to create a stunning tapestry of redemption and belonging. Fear and grief play big roles in the plot, but truth, kindness, steadfast love, purpose, and faith overcome the hopelessness that lingers in fear and regret. The dual timeline alternating between 1870 and the present time, with interjections from 1801, is cleverly and masterfully stitched together without any gaps or confusion.
 
Cleo and Deacon from the present time are such a delightful match. Though they come from very different backgrounds, they share grief, addictions, regrets, loyalty, and faith. Daisy and Lincoln mirrored their present-time counterparts in 1870 - they are the forgotten ones, deemed useless by society yet so capable of love and longing for acceptance and purpose. And then there is the grandmother who writes horror fiction, the grandmother who hoards everything, the wandering phantom woman, battles against grief and alcohol, and human depravity that add deep layers to the characters and plot.
 
It's a Jaime Jo Wright book you don't want to miss. 

I received the book from Bethany House via Interviews and Reviews. I was under no obligation to post a positive comment. All opinions are my own.

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Reviewer: Laura J. Davis

What can I say about the Vanishing at Castle Moreau that would do it justice? I believe this is Jaime Jo Wright's best work yet!

Told in three periods, we meet a young girl who has just lost her mother. At night she is haunted by a hooded figure with a crooked hand, who tells her things no child should hear. At another time, we meet Daisy, an orphan who takes a position at the castle as a housemaid. She has heard the horror stories of the gothic castle but feels she has no alternative but to stay, even when some of those stories seem to be coming true.

And lastly, we meet Cleo. She has a secret we don't discover until later in the book. She is hired to help restore order to the castle after its lone occupant (Virgie) has become a hoarder. But as she begins to go through Virgie's things, the victims of the past seem to be reaching from beyond the grave for answers to their disappearances. And someone is keen to make sure she figures them out.

While the book concentrates mainly on Daisy and Cleo's stories, the thread that weaves them all together begins with the young child at the beginning of the story. Making this book hard to put down.

Wright masterfully sets her characters, plot twists and secrets in a brilliant story that transports you inside a gothic castle with so many mysteries that I long to see this book turned into a movie.

I loved everything about it! And the twist at the end was something I never saw coming. Kudos to the author. This one is a keeper!

​I received a copy courtesy of Bethany House through NetGalley for my honest review.

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Reviewer: Conny Withay

“… the dust of the old castle’s curse threatens to rise again, this time leaving no one alive to tell its sordid tale,” the back jacket states in Jaime Jo Wright’s novel, The Vanishing at Castle Moreau.

This three-hundred-and-eighty-four-page advance reader copy targets those interested in Christian mystery and suspense involving an old castle and disappearing women. With slang words such as darn and heck, topics of alcoholism, mental and physical abuse, and death may not be appropriate for immature readers. The ending includes an author’s note, ten discussion questions, acknowledgments, the author’s biography, and advertisements.

In this tale that is spread over one-hundred-and-fifty years, three women are involved in an old Wisconsin castle. There is Daisy, an orphan with nowhere else to go, so she becomes a housekeeper for a Gothic authoress who seems eviler than the stories she writes. And decades later, there is Cleo, who drastically wants to hide her identity, so she agrees to help a wealthy aging hoarder at the same abode. And intertwined is a girl who grows up only wanting to protect the skeletons of her past.

I love fiction that jumps around in time and links the past with the present, especially if it involves the history of an old castle. The descriptions of the fear and angst some of the characters go through are well-written and believable. I appreciate that God was called upon and trusted when needed.

Those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ may not like this story of how God provides protection, even when things appear differently than expected. Some may not like the lag between chapters as it is hard to remember the story as it jumps years. I would have marked the read lower due to the references to a phantom woman and spirit beings, but the ending redeems itself.

It would have been thoughtful to include the eternal plan of salvation. Since I only read Christian fiction, I prefer no slang words.

If you like a mystery of an eerie old house that hides secrets within its walls as women go missing, this one will make you wonder what is real and what is not as you learn the truth about protecting others.

Thanks to Bethany House and Interviews & Reviews for this complimentary book. I am under no obligation to give a positive review.

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