By Molly Noble Bull
Publisher: Creation House
Published: Feb. 25, 2014
ASIN: B00I2FWC3I
About Gatehaven:
Gatehaven by Molly Noble Bull is a Christian Gothic historical novel set in a
haunting mansion in the north of England where Ian Colquhoun and Shannon Aimee
battle a Frenchman with dark secrets—spiritual warfare vs. the occult. Will they learn enough about God’s words to
defend themselves and others or will evil overcome them?
Book Links
My Thoughts:
Rachel Shannon Aimee, a French Huguenot, has fallen in love with an
English Earl and wants her parent’s permission to leave Scotland to travel back
with him to his home meet his mother and grandmother and marry him. Since it
would be unseemly for a single
woman to travel with an unmarried man without a chaperone in those days, the Earl of Northon arranged for his aunt, Miss Forester to travel with them and act as Shannon’s chaperone. With misgivings, Shannon’s parents Rachel and Javier give their consent for Shannon to go after Shannon’s baby brother is born.
woman to travel with an unmarried man without a chaperone in those days, the Earl of Northon arranged for his aunt, Miss Forester to travel with them and act as Shannon’s chaperone. With misgivings, Shannon’s parents Rachel and Javier give their consent for Shannon to go after Shannon’s baby brother is born.
Out of concern for Shannon as her parents and her life-long friend Ian
Colquhoun do not trust the Earl, Ian takes a position as an assistant to a
vicar of a church in a church nearby the estate of Gatehaven where the Earl lives.
He travels with them to England. Shannon’s brother Peter also travels to
England to keep an eye on Shannon, but without Shannon’s knowledge.
Almost immediately after leaving the small village of Luss, Scotland,
the Earl seems withdrawn, less loving than he did and Shannon is slightly
confused. Is it the lack of privacy or is he behaving differently? Then they
visit a strange church that truly gives her the creeps so badly the it makes
her sick to her stomach and she has to run out before she throws up on the
floor inside the building.
Once they arrive at Gatehaven, things do not get better. Shannon is
given a room in the servants quarters! Edward (the Earl) doesn’t clear the
matter up for days, she barely sees him, there are dragon carvings on the headboards
of the beds which make her feel extremely uncomfortable as her father has
taught her that dragons are a symbol for Satan. Yet whenever Ian says anything
negative about Edward, Shannon refuses to listen because she loves Edward.
I found Gatehaven to be quite
a well-written book about the struggle we go through when we want something
that isn’t good for us and we know it, but we want it anyway. It’s a good
lesson to listen to those around us who are older and wiser whose advice we
usually trust and listen to their advice even when it goes against what we
might want to hear.
My favourite character in the novel was Ian. While I think he should have
spoken up sooner to Shannon of his feelings for her (this might have prevented
her from running off with the Earl in the first place), he was very devoted to
her, even when he thought she was lost to him. Her safety and well-being came
first. A true example of Christianity.
There was a lot of intrigue and suspense in Gatehaven. I thought the sub-plot of the Scottish pastor’s cousin
was interesting, as was the twist in that storyline. Ms. Bull did an excellent
job of creating truly evil characters. I did find that there was a lot of
theology within the story that might count as a negative for a non-Christian
reader who would pick up a Gothic historical novel. The theology presented is
fairly basic, and it is well-explained for the newer believer. And that being
said, it is marketed as a Christian novel.
I liked that this novel also brings to light some of the occult symbols
that have become very commonplace in our world today. We see them and we think
nothing of them. Are we being slowly being brainwashed into thinking they mean
nothing? Perhaps we should be paying more attention.
I thoroughly enjoyed Gatehaven. It
certainly deserved to win the 2013 Creation House Fiction Writing Contest (even
before publication). I gave this novel 5 stars out of 5.
Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in exchange
for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts
are my own.
About the Author:
Molly Noble Bull was born in Kingsville,
Texas—home of the famous King Ranch. Her father and maternal grandfather were
real Texas cowboys, and she enjoys writing western romances. But she also
writes historical novels.
Gatehaven, her long Christian gothic set in Europe in
1784, won the 2013 Creation House Fiction Writing Contest while still a
manuscript, and Gatehaven
is the novel being featured today. However, Molly’ first two
published novels came out from Zondervan. Her Zondervan novels were later
reprinted and published as Promise Romances from Guideposts. Molly also sold
novels to Love Inspired and Tsaba House, and Westbow Press published The
Overcomers: Christian Authors Who Conquered Learning Disabilities, a non-fiction book she wrote with four other
Christian authors. Molly owns the rights to her Zondervan romance novels now,
and she will soon self publish The Rogue’s Daughter as an e-book. Rogue is a western set on a South Texas cattle ranch in 1890.
Author
Links
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Thanks for an excellent review. Like many young girls of any era, Shannon was a gullible nineteen year old at the beginning of the book and a hard character to like or understand. I am so glad you understood her, Katheryn.
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