The Orphan of Cemetery Hill

The Orphan of Cemetery Hill by Hester Fox
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to the publisher, Graydon House, for providing me with an ARC of The Orphan of Cemetery Hill in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Gist

I had Fox’s first novel, The Witch of Willow Hall, on my to-read list ever since it came out in 2018. Being the hopeful optimist that I am, I kept making plans to read it any day now. Well, the road to hell is usually paved with good intentions.

So, sadly, I hadn’t been introduced to her writing until the publisher was so kind and offered me a chance to read her newest novel, The Orphan of Cemetery Hill. Obviously, I jumped at the chance.

I ended up reading most of The Orphan of Cemetery Hill in one day, because I just needed to know. The story had me spellbound from the first chapter and when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about reading.

I love the gothic, the dark and atmospheric stories, especially as we get closer in the season to Halloween.

The Details

There is so much I want to comment on without giving anything away, because The Orphan of Cemetery Hill is worth the reading journey. I’ll try my absolute hardest to do it justice minus any spoilers.

Let’s start with the characters, shall we?

We’ve got Tabby, the protagonist. A burned child, in a manner of speaking, who had a rough childhood. She can’t trust easily, but she has a pure heart.

She is a little feisty, knows how to learn from her mistakes and is a survivor. I like her. She has depth and personality. She feels real and I appreciate that in a character.

It is also always a wonderful treat to read about secondary characters that the author decides deserve the same amount of attention to detail as the protagonist. They may have a specific purpose to move the story forward, but that doesn’t mean it has to be blatantly obvious and all they are good for.

Complex and thought-through secondary characters provide a richness to a story that in the end could make or break the story as a whole. I was glad to see the dedication and love the author poured into these characters.

The writing was fantastic and I adored the contrast and similarities the author created between the eerie atmosphere of the story and the weather. It added a nice touch to the overall ambiance.

In The Orphan of Cemetery Hill, set mostly in Boston before the Civil War, Fox took the opportunity to comment on a series of social issues that were prevalent as much then as they are now. I appreciated the not so subtle opinions and struggles the characters had and faced, including the sobering fact that not much has really changed in the last 160 years.

The Verdict

Overall, I could go on and on about The Orphan of Cemetery Hill, but I shall stop here and say that it was a treat to read this story.

An eerie story, including ghosts and mad scientists, with a hint of romance; I would definitely recommend it.

About the Author

Hester Fox is a full-time writer and mother, with a background in museum work and historicalarchaeology. Most weekends you can find Hester exploring one of the many historic cemeteriesin the area, browsing bookshops, or enjoying a seasonal latte while writing at a café. She livesoutside of Boston with her husband and their son.