Vaulted Night, A Novella of the Uncanny by Leona Francombe

A free copy of this book was provided by the publisher/author in exchange for an honest review.

September saw the publishing of Leona Francombe’s new intriguing story of history, hidden secrets and forbidden love. I loved her earlier three books; The Sage of Waterloo, The Universe in 3/4 Time: A Novel of Old Europe, and The Heron Legacy Her new novella follows in the footsteps of her earlier books; a present day story intertwined with the past.

Vaulted Night is a story about music, hidden secrets and forbidden love. It starts when Alice Gray, a young struggling pianist and composer in London, is approached by famous French filmmaker Yann St-Clair. He is struck by something in her appearance and when she tells him she is a composer, he is asking her to come and play for him.

As she sits down by the piano and play some of her own compositions, he is mesmerised. Not only by her music, but he discovers something in her appearance that awake old memories. St-Clair’s next project is a documentary about Brittany and he asks Alice to compose the music. Alice is quite taken by the charismatic St-Clair and agrees. She is sent to Kerliac, an isolated village on the Breton coast, where she is staying in a cottage belonging to the St-Clair’s family. The idea is that the surroundings should inspire her compositions.

As she is settling in and discovering the surroundings, something is happening to her. She hear voices from the past, and she sees people where there should not be any. Set in the landscape is a huge ancient stone, and a World War II bunker. As the weather turns bad, shadows are moving, the wind is changing the landscape, and, who is this man with a rifle close to the bunker? The area is filled with things she can’t explain. Something hidden in the wind, is whispering to her through the dark nights. Is she imagining it all?

St-Clair’s grandparents, Isabelle and Philippe, once lived in the cottage during World War II. Philippe was involved with the French Resistance, was arrested and disappeared. Isabella was a gifted piano player, just like Alice herself.

As Alice finds more information in the house, and when talking to the two old people taking care of the cottage, she realises something terrible had once happened here. The more Alice looks into the lives of the people, the more she discovers. Secrets hidden by the family and those close to them.

Leona Francombe gives us an isolated landscape, and almost supernatural events. The isolation, the storms, the raging sea and secrets kept hidden, bring my thoughts toward Emily Brontës Wuthering Heights. Like in Emily’s landscape, Alice seems alone in a desolate part of the world, where forbidden love and sacrifices happening a long time ago, still affects the living.

Leona Francombe is a professional pianist, and as, in her earlier novels, music plays a big part of the story. It is the music that is the key to the memories that seem to want to surface, and it is the music that finally gives away the story to Alice.

Here, music becomes a means of communicating across generations. Isabella’s brilliant piano playing is somehow transmitted to Alice as she composes the music for the documentary. As Isabella’s secret is brought into the light, Alice is able to create music that gives new life to the place and to the people who once inhabited the cottage. In this way, history and memory are finally brought to the surface, allowing the next generation to find peace.

I really loved this novella. The story is so well fitted into the isolated landscape. The people, nature, sea and history are one and merge into something almost magic. Leona Francombe’s prose is beautiful, wild and totally fits into this isolated place in France. The novella is for anyone who loves a mystery with magical overtones, but where the story is still well grounded through Alice’s presence. Highly recommended.