It’s a total pleasure to share details of another of my My Weekly magazine online reviews today. This time it’s my privilege to review The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond by Louise Davidson.

The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond was published by Moonflower on 26th October 2023 and is available for purchase through the links here.

The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond

After a terrible tragedy, governess Julia Pearlie finds herself with no job, home, or references. When she’s offered a position as companion to Miss Olivia Richmond, her luck appears to be turning. But Mistcoate House is full of secrets.

Olivia has a sinister reputation. The locals call her the Mistcoate Witch, thanks to her tarot readings, and her insistence that she can speak to the dead. Her father, Dr Richmond, believes this to be girlish fantasy and is looking to Julia to put a stop to it.

Determined to prove herself and shake off her own murky history, Julia sets to work trying to help Olivia become a proper young lady. However, as she becomes a fixture at Mistcoate, it is soon clear that there may be more to Olivia’s stories than Dr Richmond would have Julia believe – not least because somehow, Olivia seems to know something of the darkness that Julia desperately hoped she had left behind.

As the danger grows, and the winter chill wraps around the dark woods surrounding Mistcoate, Julia will have to fight to uncover the truth, escape her past – and save herself.

Original and engrossing, this chilling Victorian Gothic ghost story is an outstanding piece of storytelling, perfect for fans of Sarah Perry, Erin Morgenstern and Jessie Burton.

My Review of The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond

My full review of The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond can be found on the My Weekly website here.

However, here I can say that The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond is an absolute cracker. It’s dark, spooky and makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. I thought it was brilliant and highly recommend it.

Do visit My Weekly to read my full review here.

About Louise Davidson

Born in 1988, Louise Davidson grew up in Belfast during the troubles with a Catholic mother and a Protestant father. The Catholic side of her family lived on Mountcollyer Street – the street featured inKenneth Branagh’s Oscar winning film Belfast, that was badly affected by violent protests.

Louise’s earliest memory is of her parents deciding whether they should drive past a car that was on fire in the streets of Belfast. It was only when she left Belfast to study Creative Writing at University in the UK that Louise realised it was not normal to live in a permanent state of fear and anxiety. She says the sense of dread she has had from a young age drew her to Gothic fiction and is something she has tried to channel into her debut novel.

Louise was introduced to the idea of tarot, mediums and fortune telling from a young age as her aunt Pat is an intuitive, with the ability to receive messages from the dead and to predict dreams. Louise grew up watching her aunt predict dreams and pass messages from the dead to bereaved families and this helped her to create the character of Olivia Richmond.

After a career working in theatre production with theatres including Tinder Box and Ransome Theatre in Northern Ireland and Intermission and the Lyric Hammersmith in London, Louise now teaches English and drama to A-Level students. Louise lives in West London with her husband and stepson. The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond is her first novel.

For further information, follow Louise on Twitter/X @LouiseDWriter and find her on Instagram.