‘The Haunting of Henry Twist’ Book Review

“The Haunting of Henry Twist by Rebecca F. John is a hauntingly atmospheric novel set in post-World War I London. The story follows Henry Twist, a grieving widower who has recently lost his wife, Ruby, in a tragic accident just after the birth of their child. Henry, struggling with the responsibilities of single parenthood and the overwhelming weight of grief, encounters a mysterious man who claims to be the reincarnation of Ruby.”

We are first introduced to the character of Ruby, and you cannot help but feel an emotional connection towards her and sense the romance between her and her husband, Henry Twist, because you know what they don’t—you know that Ruby is going to have a sudden and tragic death. As the story progressed, I really could not believe that Henry was in love with Ruby. The choices he made, his actions, didn’t line up, but after a while, I realized that the love he had for Ruby was haunting him. I still don’t understand some elements that were added into the story and into his character work. For the most part, the side characters were all very one-dimensional. I wish that this book could have kept the emotional grip that it had in the first chapter.

The atmosphere is what I have been wanting to read for so long. This is set in the Roaring 20s in London. You are seeing the impacts that the First World War had on society and how society as a whole really changed at this time. I loved all the historical elements that were involved in the story.

The writing was another fail. If you like purple prose, then this one’s for you. There were some really beautiful sentences that were very reflective, but when there’s so much of that in almost every single paragraph, it becomes overbearing, and I would lose the meaning of the story. I would have to go read a paragraph again and again to fully comprehend what it was trying to say because it was just so pretty. There were some really weird comparisons, for example, comparing the moon to a Ferris wheel or when a girl is about to be sick, comparing it to baby birds being fed. It was just really strange.

The idea of the plot is great, and it could’ve been a great emotional character-driven story, but the character work and the purple prose really ruined the story for me. I wasn’t really intrigued; I was bored a lot of the time reading this. I felt myself going into a reading slump. I wanted to love this one, but it did not live up to those expectations. Pick this up if you feel intrigued.

2.85 out of 5 stars.