Castle Barebane (by Joan Aiken)

'Castle Barebane' is a thriller by Joan Aiken. I like her very much as the author of children's books, but have been rather less impressed by her novels for adults.

Still, it has a very well-written opening. Valla, newly engaged to be married in the USA, realises how unfitted she is to her fiancé's family and expectations. Her half-brother arrives with an urgent message saying that she needs to travel to take care of his children in the UK. When she arrives, she finds the children abandoned with an unpleasant woman. She rescues them, eventually taking them to Scotland.

By this stage, however, it became clear to me that the book was going to take a highly unpleasant turn. So, rather than reading on, I skimmed the last chapter and discovered that it revealed several deaths and murders, and a most unpleasant plot.

So I didn't read the rest.

Not a book I would recommend.