Castle Barebane (by Joan Aiken)

'Castle Barebane' is a thriller by Joan Aiken.

A well-written opening, as Valla, newly engaged in the USA, realises how unfitted she is to her fiancé's family and expectations. Her half-brother arrives with an urgent message to travel to take care of his children in the UK. When she arrives, she finds the children abandoned with an unpleasant woman, and rescues them, eventually taking them to Scotland.

By this stage, however, it became clear that the book was going to take an unpleasant turn, so I read 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 recommended.