Book Review: The Lantern

This last week, I finished reading The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson. If you like suspenseful ghost stories, you will like this book.

The story centers around Eve, a modern day version of the protagonist in Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, which is one of my very favorite novels of all time--I've read it over and over. (Rebecca was also made into a movie by none other than Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense). The Lantern is very reminiscent of Rebecca, although I did not enjoy it quite as much as Rebecca.

I find it interesting that in Rebecca, the heroine remains nameless, while in The Lantern, the heroine has the name of Eve, who was of course the first woman in the Bible. Eve's story in The Lantern is juxtaposed with the story of Benedicte, a Frenchwoman, and her family, including her sister Marthe Lincel, a blind perfumer.

The story of the two women is woven together well, and I found myself at many points being unable to put the book down. The book is also reminiscent of Hitchcock's movie Suspicion, in which the wife (Joan Fontaine--love her!) is afraid that her husband (Cary Grant--happy sigh) is trying to kill her.

I don't want to give too much away, so just know that if you're looking for a good, suspenseful novel, look no further than The Lantern.

**I will definitely be reading Rebecca again soon, as well as watching Hitchcock's movie version of it, which is chilling. If you haven't read or watched Rebecca, you should!**