Book Review: Wormwood Abbey

Wormwood Abbey by Christina Baehr (Independently published, 2023).

Christina Baehr describes the genre in which she writes as cozy gothic, and the description fits perfectly. Wormwood Abbey, her debut novel, is cozy enough to keep things from getting overly creepy, and gothic enough to avoid the syrupy sentimentality that too often goes with “cozies.” It’s the best of both worlds, and it’s delightful.

Our heroine and narrator is Edith Worms, a young Victorian woman who publicly carries out all her duties as a clergyman’s daughter, while privately writing popular detective novels. Only her warm and supportive family know about her secret career. But it’s Edith’s turn to be supportive when her father unexpectedly inherits his family home in Yorkshire, where, in his childhood, he once “saw a dragon in the garden.”

Nobody really believes him about the dragon, but once they get to Wormwood Abbey, everyone has to agree there’s something a little strange about the place and its current inhabitants, Edith’s three cousins. The oldest of them, Gwendolyn, seems positively haunted by secrets. And then there’s the mysterious neighbor, Drake, who keeps hanging around for no discernible reason.

And that’s even before we get to the creature that hatches itself in Edith’s fireplace.

Christina Baehr (a Facebook friend of mine, in the interest of full disclosure) knows her Gothic tropes and mythical beasts so well that she can both embrace and satirize them with great skill. She plays with Brontë references and French history and Victorian mores and so on, in ways that will charm readers who love those things. But they’re not the whole point of the story; rather, they decorate a thoroughly engaging tale of family, friendship, and adventure that’s suitable for both adults and teens.

There’s plenty to love about the characters here. Edith’s father, the Reverend Worms, quietly but generously lives out his faith by doing his best to provide for his orphaned nieces, and the rest of the family follow suit. (Edith quips at one point that her father likes to “shock his respectable parishioners by suggesting they follow the tenets of Christianity.”) They deal with whatever comes, from prejudice to entails to wyverns, with a united front and unquenchable spirit. Edith herself is a highly enjoyable narrator—honest, witty, and courageous. She’s very much a woman of her time, yet also a woman not afraid to take risks or to strike out on an uncharted path—just the kind of woman, in short, to adopt a small monster and name him Francis.

Perhaps the best part is that Wormwood Abbey is the first in a series, The Secrets of Ormdale, so there are more opportunities to spend time in this enchanting world. I’ve already bought the next one (Drake Hall) and can’t wait to get started.

Book Links:

Wormwood Abbey on Amazon

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