Summary: In 1846, Gabriel Stone arrives in Pale Harbour, Maine, to be the minister of the church. Gabriel is still coming to terms with the loss of his young wife and baby a year prior. He meets Sophronia Carver, the widow of a wealthy businessman with her own difficult past. Sophronia is treated with suspicion and dislike by the narrow-minded townspeople amid rumours of witchcraft. A series of unpleasant pranks is played on Sophronia, based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe. They are unnerving and Sophronia feels threatened. As a friendship and growing attraction builds between Gabriel and Sophronia, the incidents escalate and Gabriel knows he must find out who is behind it before something terrible happens to Sophronia.

Thoughts: It felt like stepping back in time to read this novel, reminiscent of Louisa May Alcott or the Brontes. Pale Harbour is a very atmospheric novel and the author's descriptions bring to life a vision of a Victorian-era New England town with its lighthouse, craggy bluffs, captains' mansions and misty weather. There is all the whispering gossip of small-town life and the excitement of an eligible bachelor arriving in town. A pervasive sense of foreboding and menace is provided by the Poe references, along with the malice implied by the series of gruesome pranks. Of course the centre of the story is the romance between Sophronia and Gabriel, which balances the darkness in the storyline. It is quite a gripping tale and I was drawn into it, even though I am not really a romance reader - it being all heaving bodices and swelling loins.

If you enjoy gothic romance novels you will most certainly enjoy this journey back into the past. Recommended for fans of gothic, Poe-ish romance fiction.