Yes, My Darling Daughter — Margaret Leroy

Such a pretty girl. Four years old; well-loved by her young mother, Grace. But there's something . . . off about the child. Her deathly fear of water; her night terrors; most of all, her fixation with a photo of an Irish seaside town called Coldharbour.

"Sylvie, tell me about your picture. Why's it so special, sweetheart?" My heart is racing, but I try to make my voice quite calm.

"That's my seaside, Grace." Very matter-of-fact, as though this should be obvious. "I lived there, Grace. Before."

I sit very still for a long slow moment. Cold moves over my skin.

"I don't know about it," I say.

"Don't you, Grace?" She seems surprised.

Every once in a blue moon, a masterful writer dives into Gothic waters and emerges with a novel that--like Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, Henry James's The Turn of the Screw, or, more recently, Patrick McGrath's Asylum--simultaneously celebrates and transcends the genre. Welcome Margaret Leroy to the clan.

Haunted and haunting, Yes, My Darling Daughter is a wonderfully original, deliciously suspenseful mystery. Impossible though it may seem, Grace has to face the fact that her daughter may be remembering a past life. And not only that: the danger haunting Sylvie from her past life is still very much a threat to her in this one.