The Deception of Harriet Fleet: Chilling Victorian Gothic mystery that grips from first to last

Review: The Deception of Harriet Fleet by Helen Scarlett

It was silent but it was the silence of someone holding their breath and waiting.

We all love a good Gothic thriller. There is always an appetite for something with the feel of Jane Eyre and The Woman in White, but with a pace that may – to some readers – feel more suited to our modern, frequently fast paced world. The Gothic thriller does just this, holding readers’ hands through a time and tropes we know so well and making us feel uneasy despite this, which is something Helen Scarlett, in her debut novel, does so well.

The Deception of Harriet Fleet takes place predominantly in 1871, but it is the past that dominates and dictates the character and actions of our protagonists. With the exception of the vicar and his wife, there are few characters that are not scarred by previous horrors. Harriet, our eponymous heroine, is running from her past, whilst Eleanor and the inhabitants of Teesbank Hall are prisoners to a past that may or may not be truly theirs.

It is March, a pleasant spring day in 1871, when Harriet travels north to County Durham to take up the position of Governess at Teesbank Hall. She is to tutor 18 year-old Eleanor Wainwright, a troubled and manipulative soul, who is all too aware that Harriet is there as a spy not governess. Harriet has a plan of her own though. Our governess does not intend to stay long at Teesbank Hall - she just needs to earn enough money to give her a future. Within a matter of days, however, Harriet is embroiled in solving the tragedy that consumes the Wainwright Family. Is it Eleanor that pushes Harriet into investigating these historic events or the menace of Teesbank Hall itself? The horrors of the past are everywhere, real and imaginary, and although Harriet is initially content to outrun her own ghosts and help Eleanor discover the truth, events soon escalate beyond her control. By autumn, the past and present collide - not just for the Wainwrights but for Harriet too - and some perceived horrors become all too real.

The Deception of Harriet Fleet is set a little over halfway through the reign of Queen Victoria and many of the scientific achievements that we associate with the era had yet to happen or become widespread. The arrival of electric lighting did not occur until the late 1870s and the reader is left in no doubt as to the value of light to Harriet. Whether it is the dark mood that pervades Teesbank Hall, the complete absence of light in the attic and stairways at night or Harriet’s fear of how much freedom she will lose when the shorter days and longer nights of winter arrive. Summer has not ended when Harriet makes the decision that she will have left Teesbank Hall by December.

Themes of the macabre and paranoia intertwine to create a feeling of claustrophobia that threatens to consume our heroine. The power of suggestion is real, and Harriet is constantly questioning her own mind. “Did I know in my heart the house was haunted?... Or perhaps it was my own demons that hung about me”. In the classic Victorian Gothic tradition, the female mind and its supposed frailties dominate the narrative, as does society’s fear of female desire, both sexual and intellectual. A female mind that was not controlled led to wicked acts and madness; it was easier for this society to accept ghosts and the macabre. It is testament to the writing of Helen Scarlett that it is possible to feel sorrow for both Harriet and Eleanor, even if it is not always easy to empathise with a soul as tortured by jealousy as Eleanor’s. It is a shame that the trajectory of the classic mystery thriller does not allow for Eleanor’s own past to be given more space, separate to her family’s historic tragedy. Eleanor’s true self and the real cause of her pain, sorrow and bitterness are crammed into chapter 25. Moreover, this real Eleanor that readers get to glimpse briefly is never seen again in 1871 and - whilst this fits with the race to find out whodunit – it feels as though Eleanor has been done a disservice. For Eleanor is not the only character affected by jealousy in this tale. Readers are left in little doubt of the power of jealousy to twist the mind, remove logic and reason, leaving malice, spite and obsession with perceived wrongs.

We get to know more about Harriet than our supporting cast, not least because the reader is allowed to slowly learn about her past as the story unfolds - for all her deception, she is ultimately likeable. Determined rather than feisty, her actions are understandable, even when the reader is shouting for her to turn back and not undertake actions we know will put her at risk. As the novel continues, we begin to realise Harriet’s own haunting had already started long before she arrived at Teesbank Hall.

Helen Scarlett has a gentle style that is easy to read, whilst also managing to convey the angst-ridden claustrophobic atmosphere of a Gothic thriller. The balance between description, narrative and dialogue is perfect for the style and length of the book. With her debut novel, Helen Scarlett has given readers a real whodunit spine-tingling Gothic thriller that will appeal to readers of Laura Purcell and Sarah Waters for the themes of shame, jealousy and control. This is, without doubt, a tale for readers who want a delicious mystery to solve during their escapist reading adventures.