Hillgate Hall by Nicholas Bundock sees Phoebe Burns struggling with depression after the breakup of her marriage. Desperate to meet the mortgage payments and care for her son James, Phoebe goes back to teaching Latin at a private institution called Hillgate Hall. The other teachers are more repulsive than the students and she avoids the smoke-filled staff room as much as possible. Phoebe meets Adam at a party where she accidentally overhears the mistress of her ex-husband Anthony describing him as a diversion. Phoebe asks fellow antique dealer, Cosmo Butler, to court the woman instead. Her teaching career becomes untenable when she witnesses Mrs. Lennox's unethical behavior, but Phoebe makes a sale that allows her to succeed in the antique business. Hillgate Hall by Nicholas Bundock was a realistic and psychologically intriguing story. I enjoyed the skillful way everyday life was presented as a semi-gothic emotional journey and how the protagonist’s mental state was underlined throughout by references to her favorite novelist, Charlotte Bronte. This theme enhanced the reference to antiques that sustained the narrative and held my attention. I felt drawn to the character of Phoebe, who began the story near the limit of her coping skills and yet somehow rose to the challenges presented throughout the tale. I was pleased to see her confront personal demons and overcome memories of childhood abuse. I liked the subtle and understated romance with Adam and the way the last paragraph implied the relationship stood the test of time. The book is essentially a contemporary women’s story and yet managed to capture the elusive charm of a classic.

Initially I found Phoebe a sad yet interesting character and her growth and development throughout the book was wonderful. Her daily struggle with her ex and his bombshell girlfriend were so realistically written, and so very easy to read. Battling for money with a part time antiques business, Phoebe is offered a teaching position at Hillgate Hall. Her experiences of the school, staff, and General day to day life is exceptionally well written, and compelling reading. Her experiences at Hillgate force her to confront many demons from her past, and deal with newer ones. Her journey from weak, beaten and timid, to strong, determined and with utter clarity towards her future, will keep you reading way past the witching hour. An excellent read, well written and with characters that are very real. I intend to read more from this author!

A very enjoyable read, mixing humour, angst, depression, antiques & life after divorce. Phoebe has to deal with the depression which sometimes overwhelms her & to earn a precarious living as an antiques dealer. Her ex husband having left her for a rather unpleasant, selfish & self-centred woman, she has to battle her demons & settle in a new job teaching at a minor boarding school. It tells of her fight back to regain her strength, self belief and solvency. She is supported by her great friend Molly, who is like a benevolent greek chorus & also Frank & new friend Ruth. I cheered her all the way, although tempted to give her a good shaking every now & then, kept the faith. Do read it & enjoy it & loose yourself in the fabulous descriptions of the Norfolk countryside, the antiques and the friendships. Couldn't put it down.

Excellent read. Good insight into the psychology of Phoebe. Well described settings and convincing and compelling story. Recommend to all readers who are interested in the internal workings of a mind. Good pace and plot. Disturbingly compelling.

The opening pages establish Hillgate Hall’s narrator as a struggling antique dealer just the sunny side of forty called Phoebe Burns, whose vain husband has left her for a twenty-something bitch goddess, Beatrice, known as B. To add to Phoebe's misery, the moneyed B. seems intent on luring away her son, James. With that, the scene is set for a tale of psychological suspense in which a woman struggling emotionally and financially finds the inner strength to overcome her fears, traumas and existential challenges. Hillgate Hall’s tag line promises old shadows, new darkness, and it doesn’t disappoint. Severely strapped for cash, Phoebe wangles herself a job at the eponymous Hillgate Hall, a somewhat dodgy boarding school run by the vainglorious Dr Lennox and staffed by an array of eccentrics and malcontents, drawn in convincing and often hilarious detail. One of the pleasures of this story is the counterpoint between salty comedy and gathering menace, as Phoebe’s already fragile morale wavers, at times looking like it is going to fragment. Hillgate Hall (aka Hellgate Hall) proves to be the Chapel Perilous Phoebe must enter to confront her demons, and emerge renewed. Readers looking for a strong female protagonist – and who isn’t these days? – will find an engaging one in Phoebe. As with Nick Bundock’s previous novel, The Mirror Shop, the main setting is North Norfolk, and the world of the story is one of antique dealing, gardening, and delight in country pursuits, all of which are evoked in convincing and absorbing detail, from the narrative point of view of an outsider. Phoebe isn’t a Norfolk girl, she’s from up North, which gives her just the right amount of distance from the world she inhabits. As the tension intensifies, Phoebe decides to fight her way back from the shadows into the land of the living. Does she succeed? What price does she pay? Will she emerge armed with the courage to be happy again?

From the start of Hillgate Hall I was intrigued by Phoebe, the main character. I felt drawn into her battle to survive financially in the face of her ex-husband and his ghastly (and wealthy) girlfriend. Her struggle to make money from antique dealing, then teaching, and to keep custody of her son kept me turning the pages. There is a strong sense of reality - even in the strange Hillgate Hall, the school where she finds a teaching post. I enjoyed the suspense, as Hillgate resurrects her own unhappy schooldays, and then makes her face a new demon. Landscape is important in this book. There’s a contrast between Phoebe’s peaceful rural world and the psychological turmoil in her mind. I loved the recollections of her Yorkshire childhood and her longing for the wildness of the moors - so different from the countryside where most of this tale is set. Like Nicholas Bundock’s first novel, The Mirror Shop, Hillgate Hall is a compelling story with its well-observed characters, dark humour and the many twists in the plot. I thoroughly recommend it.