IN SHORT: This excellent historical fiction book, set in 1950s England, weaves together mystery and magical realism.

REVIEW

Escaping a scandal in London, Mila and her 5-year-old daughter go with Mila’s mother, Magda, to live in an old house in Cornwall. It’s 1954, and the house has sat empty since before the war. Magda plans to renovate White Cove into a guest house, and Mila is going along with her strong-willed parent’s direction because she has no other options.

The house has a history, however, and locals are wary of the newcomers. Some in the area are also superstitious: centuries before, people worshiped the Lady, who protected the land and its inhabitants. While Christianity came in and aimed to erase the pagan ways (through bloody means), signs of those old ways remain. It’s said that the white Hare is the Lady’s expression in the world, and when the little family drive into the valley the first night, Mila and her daughter think they see a white hare in the road.

Little Janey, a bright and imaginative girl, shares many stories about what she learns about the area from her stuffed toy, Rabbit. Mila is proud of her daughter and wants her to feel happy, secure and loved. But sometimes what Janey shares is a little unnerving.

They meet Jack Lord, a man who has come to the area after serving in the military during the war. He’s putting that behind him and working odd jobs to get by. Janey, Mila and Magda all like him, and he them. But Mila is having a hard time letting go of Janey’s father and her heartbreak, and Jack is not sharing much about himself or his background. Their secrets, their resistance to openness, are walls blocking the possibilities that may exist between them.

As the plot progresses, readers and the characters learn more about the bad event that took place at the house two decades before. Pieces of the mystery pop up and come together. The supernatural plays small parts to nudge along the resolution.

The story and Johnson’s writing style reminded me a lot of Kate Morton or Susanna Kearsley. The setting, the far west of Cornwall on the sea, is drenched in mystery, old magic and layer upon layer of rich history. It has such a sense of place. Echoes, imprints, of the events of the far and near past are absorbed into the land.

The White Hare is wonderfully written and just the kind of story that I love. It draws the reader in to an atmospheric setting that simply feels quietly magical, drawing upon legends, and then tells a tale of mystery and old secrets. I recommend it.

RATING

Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes 4 uses of strong language, a few instances of moderate profanity, 13 uses of mild language, and about 15 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Profanity also includes about a dozen uses of British (bl-) language. There are a few scenes of kissing. A man marries two women. There are about four or five references to a child being slapped by a parent. Two men get in a serious fistfight. A woman is killed. A woman briefly relates her rape of years before.

*I received an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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