A Morning in Eden: a novel
By Anna Gilbert
Reviewed by Elaine Williams

Setting is important in this subtle novel by Anna Gilbert. The year is 1919, and Lorna Kent, a proper young lady, has moved to the country to live with her aunt. Lorna has never fallen in love before, and therefore, she is slow to recognize her feelings for the much older headmaster of the local school, Adam Ushart. The beauty of Lorna's pastoral surroundings continually vies with her growing sense that something is very wrong in the small village of Canterlow. Neighbors and relatives drop tantalizing bits of information, and then will say no more. Lorna begins to realize that all of the village secrets are connected to another proper young woman, Alice Hood, who drowned at the nearby dam several years ago. As Lorna is drawn into the same web that entangled Alice Hood and extinguished her life, she discovers that more than one of her close acquaintances has something to hide.

The title of this novel is derived from this quote: "Fair as a morning in Eden, and as old as sin." Author Anna Gilbert uses wonderful imagery in recreating a bucolic paradise with a disturbing underside. The countryside surrounding the village of Canterlow features "high-banked green lanes," ancient bridle paths, wild roses, honeysuckle, elder blossom, the "stillness of summer trees," and much more. But in this Eden, as in that long-ago paradise, a serpent of evil coils around even the loveliest tree. Tellingly, Lorna realizes that a hedge of hawthorn can not only frame a lover's tryst, but also can hide a multitude of sins. The author is brilliant in leading the reader to conclude that beauty and evil are intertwined. That is what keeps this novel far from being just another romance.

Minor characters in the novel become more important as the plot unfolds. The headmaster's wife, Madeline, appears as a dramatically ill invalid, and her character is used to keep Lorna's disquieting sense of dread at the forefront of the story. Etta, Alice Hood's surviving sister, serves as a sort of conscience and avenging angel. At our first meeting with Etta (as a young girl), she is compared to a sphinx, a gargoyle, and an oracle in attitude and posture. This description foreshadows Etta's later purpose in moving the story to its climactic scene.

Anna Gilbert, the author, has written twelve previous novels. She was born and raised in Northern England, and has won awards for her writing, including The Romantic Novelists Award and 1994's Catherine Cookson Award. Her skill at creating mood and atmosphere is very much apparent in A Morning in Eden. Even the cover photo contributes to the mood. You'll enjoy this book if you appreciate a touch of Gothic suspense and romance, a cozy English village where secrets are whispered discreetly, and plot details so subtle that you must be paying attention to grasp their full significance.

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