The Death of Jane Lawrence - Caitlin Starling

 up to Chap 22 - and it's a fairly episodic gothic ghost story so far.

Here's the story so far.

Jane marries Dr Augustine Lawrence, as a business arrangement.  She needs a husband, and he needs an accountant, kind of.  he really doesn't, but it's either a McGuffin, or he's setting her up.

She is to live at his surgery, but spooky night, and broken carriage, and she's stuck at his residence.  She snoops a bit, (and she's told not to go into the locked cellar, as it's not structurally safe) and gradually finds info about Elodie, who he sends a regular cheque to her parents, but it's never cashed.  He says was a patient of his who died.

Then a bunch of his doctor friends turn up unannounced to play a "game", and they reveal Elodie was his wife, who died.  They want to use the Cellar, but he gets cranky, and storms out, and they use the library.  Jane is part of an initiation, and via some drink maybe, she hallucinates that Augustine killed Elodie in a sacrifice of some sorts.

There is also a doctor from the lunatic aslyum, Dr Nizamiev, who takes notes a lot, and tells Jane that in the past, various doctors have messed with magic, and ended up under her care.  And the other doctors there are arrogant and messing with danger.

21 - Jane breaks into the Cellar, and discovers it's a crypt, and seems to have a lineage of Lawrences there.  Elodie, as a ghost, is there, and then Jane can't escape.  Jane tries to talk to her, Elodie tries to choke her, but then she escapes, and to get out.  Now she just wants to escape as this marriage is nothing but lies.

22 - And returns to her family home, The Cunninghams, where she left a week ago.  But it's totally abandoned.  Distraught, she decides to head back to the Surgery to sleep, as her Husband shouldn't be there at night

23  But she gets there early, and he's still there, and they have a good talk.  He confesses to everything.  He tried to save Elodie by massaging her naked heart (old fashioned medicine), and after she died, he tried to resurrect her.  And her parents caught him.  He's been haunted every since by ghosts. So he's not the monster Jane thought he was/is....or is he.

24.  Abigail Yew introduced.  She loses her baby, and bleeding a lot.  Possibly going to die.

25.  But doesn't - not yet.  She seems to recover. Dr Lawrence heads back to the haunted home, and while Jane stays in the Surgery.  then a family with a very sick child turn up, so she's forced to go get the doctor.  And while she's at the haunted home....the ghosts turn up.  Then the Doctor grabs her and drugs her from behind with ether.  "I can't lose you either"

26 And he goes a bit nuts, and takes her into the Crypt to cut her open and save her.  Luckily she escapes, and locks him in the Crypt, then passes out.

27. and the sick child is still sick, and weird stuff happens, and Jane is alone, and somehow has to help save the kid.  So she bleeds him out, and accidentally kills him.  Wait...what?

28 - weirdness, and then the dead kid is before her.

.

.

And then it gets weird.....very weird.  Lots of Ghosts, but not ghosts, and Jane can do magic while trying to resurrect the kid, and somehow locks her husband in the cellar, and I think he dies, but then he's alive, and she dies while he tries to remove the magic.  Then she's alive again, and he dies, and she dies, and they both live, and .....holy crap, it's confusing.

Then the lights go out, and no one touched them.

And reading GoodReads questions, I'm not alone in what the hell happened.  

What a drag it was as well.  I almost DNF'd this.  It was a struggle.  Yuk.

But well written