A review by katdid
The Chimney Sweeper's Boy by Barbara Vine

5.0

Probably her masterpiece although my fave is still A Dark-Adapted Eye. Gerald, Hope, and Sarah: awful people tbh.

Spoiler

I don't even like the fact that maybe Jason will prove to be Sarah's redemption because honestly she doesn't deserve it. Hope, a lost cause; I kept imagining her as looking like a former colleague, easily the most difficult person I've ever worked with. Her thing about hats, so weirdly frumpy. Fabian, who only went to his future father-in-law's funeral because he'd never been to one before: what a catch. Gerald was so vile to everyone bar his daughters that I couldn't see that he was tortured by guilt/pain unless he was just pickled in it. Also if Stefan looked so much like him wouldn't people who knew Gerald -- like his former publisher at Hope's wedding -- have remarked upon it? but that's me picking holes. Hopefully Ursula focuses upon her partner's family and forgets all about her own.

This is exactly the kind of story I like told in a way I like and even though I remembered the main thrust of it from reading it years ago it still holds up and kept me gripped.