The Haunting of Willow Dasset - Hardcover

Willow Dasset is the ancestral farm to which the Robinson family returns each summer in this rather old-fashioned novel, simultaneously published in Britain as Brief Shining. Bearing resemblances to the works of Margaret Kennedy and Rumer Godden, Rowntree's novel is crafted of ornate language and sometimes overly polished syntax. But by the time the reader adjusts to the rhythm of the prose, a compelling story has begun to emerge. Populated by eccentric (and stereotypically British) characters, Willow Dasset bears witness to a young girl's coming of age. Complicated family relationships are played out over a span of some 30 years as various characters come into focus. There is an almost Jamesian ambiguity in the ghostly presence of an inscrutable deceased grandmother, but Rowntree hasn't quite fulfilled her premise by the book's end. The narrative is quietly haunting, however, with memorable characters who live beyond the plot's limitations.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

To Sally Robinson, Willow Dasset farm is a refuge from a life filled with squabbling and deprivations. This touching novel follows Sally's relationship to this family farm over the years, and her interaction with a host of eccentric relatives: old Grandad Ludbury, around whose every whim the family revolves, and whose bounty year after year keeps the others afloat; Sally's mismatched parents; her maiden great-aunts, living out their twilight years in hateful proximity; spinster sister Bunny, building her life around the only man whom she has ever loved--her father; and kindly Uncle Jim, who takes Sally in even when she is pregnant out of wedlock. Ultimately, the farm is sold, but Sally has come to realize that its spirit will support her forever.
- Marcia R. Hoffman, M.L.S., Hoechst Celanese Corp., Somerville, N.J.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.