Is there no explanation of the mystery of The Haunted Hotel ? Is The Haunted Hotel the tale of a haunting - or the tale of a crime ? The ghost of Lord Montberry haunts the Palace Hotel in Venice - or does it ? Montberry's beautiful-yet-terrifying wife, the Countess Narona, and her erstwhile brother are the center of the terror that fills the Palace Hotel. Are their malefactions at the root of the haunting - or is there something darker, something much more unknowable at work ?
It's called The haunted hotel, but the haunting doesn't appear until the second half of the book. Just saying.
In the first part, we meet Contess Narona, a rather agitated and melodramatic woman who seeks advice from a renown doctor. She feels something is going to happen but it seems to be fate, she won't be able to prevent the worse from happening. Nothing medical here. The doctor seems condescending toward women in general and her in particular.
Later, we meet Agnes, the Victorian angel de service : she's faithful, she's pure, she's true, she's "everything a woman should be" according to Victorian principles. She has a stalker - oh, forgive me : a man is in love with her but she doesn't return the love. He persists. She says no. He finally wins her. Of course, because he's in love with her the he deserves to win her !
I didn't like the way women were presented in this novel. I didn't care much about the story, way too melodramatic. It truly deserves the name of sensation novel. It felt really dated, a story where people faint and gasp and throw themselves on their knees begging for forgiveness or mercy. Not for me.
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