The 6th book I read this year was Gallant by V.E. Schwab, her books are a mixed bag for me because I enjoy them… but there are often a little odd. This was a short audio and a standalone book, so it was perfect for my commute and I decided to give it a go.
Summary attempt
Olivia has always known she’s a little different from the other girls at Merilance School for Girls, a place she has been since 2 years old. Olivia has never spoken, so she has no-one to tell about the ghouls she sees around the school, or the strange, fragmented, things written in her mother’s diary.
One day a letter arrives from a mysterious Uncle, who has apparently been searching for her all her life. He invites her to his home, the very place the last page of her mother’s diary warns her to stay away from.
When she arrives, it’s to find two servants and one boy master of the house, her uncle is dead and could not have written the letter that brought her here. The house is strange, with strict rules about going out after dark and a cousin who wants her to leave immediately, before the secrets of this house consume her too. There is a strange wall in the garden that the shadows bend around, there are grey weeds that poke up from the soil and strangle the roses and her cousin gets angry when she accidentally bleeds in the garden. The house has many ghouls, including Olivia’s mother, who leads her to another diary, written by a girl who felt trapped by this house and it’s legacy, who discovered something beyond the wall that could change everything for Olivia.
As she discovers more of the house’s secrets and what it means to be a Prior, Olivia must make a choice to stay, even if it means she’ll meet the same fate as the rest of her family, or that she might belong on the other side of the wall more than she thought.
What did I think?
This was such an interesting, atmospheric book. The narration style draws you in and where extracts of her mother’s diary are peppered in, it makes the mystery really tantalising. I really liked Olivia’s personality and how the book handles the fact she cannot speak, plus the ending was very satisfying.
Overall, would recommend basically!
Antonia Bernardin 