The mirror by Nora Roberts
Following directly on from the cliff-hanger conclusion to Inheritance, the first in The Lost Bride Trilogy, Nora Roberts has again written a best-selling ghost story combined with romance, friendship and family. She builds on the first story, detailing visions of the seven brides who have died in the mansion in Poole’s Bay that Sonya MacTavish has inherited. Sonya hears footsteps, doors slamming and dreams of events in the past. Together with her cousin Owen, she steps through a mirror and sees a wedding from long ago. Here a bride loses her wedding ring to Hester Dobbs, an evil woman who is determined to dominate the mansion. As Sonya investigates her family history, it is evident that she must break Dobbs’ curse. How is she going to do this?
It took me a few chapters to get into the book as it was a while since I had read Inheritance, and readers new to the series should read Inheritance first before tackling The mirror. The second in the series builds on the characters in the first book, and the emphasis on family, and friendship is dominant. Sonya's best friend Cleo is featured and proves to be a stalwart woman who provides sound advice about combating the ghostly presence of Hester, while Sonya’s cousin Owen helps her out. Her love for Trey, Owen’s best friend and a local lawyer, deepens and she begins to get to know her new family in Poole’s Bay. The back stories of the seven brides are explored and the descriptions of the events that Hester Dobbs can conjure up will bring a shiver to the spine of the reader. Meanwhile the ghostly helpers in the mansion, especially the young boy who throws a ball for the dog, bring moments of lightness.
The mirror is a book that fills out much of the paranormal events and deaths of the brides while expanding on the relationships of the main characters. It ends, like Inheritance, on a sudden cliff-hanger, and it would be worthwhile keeping The mirror to reference back to when the final book in the series is published.
Fans of Nora Roberts’ fantasy and romance will look forward to the next in the series.
Themes: Paranormal, Ghosts, Romance, Gothic fiction.
Pat Pledger