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+--- Thread: The Witches' Ladder by Louise Osborne (/showthread.php?tid=2930)
The Witches' Ladder by Louise Osborne - paigenumber - 07-16-2021
After having read numerous gothics, I can guess the plots of most of them. The predictability of the plot can bore me but if the author knows how to capture my interest, I will go ahead and finish it. Based on that, I'm sure you can infer that this was a formulaic gothic.
Brief synopsis: After a breakup of her engagement, Kendra accepts a position as "governess" (if they still have governesses in the 1970s in Canada) to a young girl who has psychosomatic paraplegia after an accident around the time her mother dies. You can guess the rest.
Predictable angle: you know exactly who the hero, heroine and villains are without any major red herrings.
The "curve ball": The slight variation is the supernatural element that is introduced - witchcraft. The reader can guess who the ringleader is but the heroine is supposedly debating on this because it involved more than one person, though the others are very minor characters.
Pros: storytelling and composition was adequate (I've read enough poorly written stories to compare).
Cons: the witchcraft element was not incorporated well (making the title so inappropriate); the romance (after breaking up with her fiance of 2 years' standing, Kendra recovers very quickly and realizes that she never really loved him, but on the other hand, after 4 days, she "knows" she loves her employer).
Still, the writing was good enough for me to give this a B-/C+.