The Channings

Gripping novels often create suspense by making the stakes very high: life-or-death struggles, violence or destruction on a global scale. The Channings generates similar tension from much smaller stakes: someone has spilled ink on a choirboy's gown, 20 pounds are missing and a young man burns a candle in his room half the night for reasons he refuses to reveal. In the English cathedral town of Helstonleigh, such enigmas loom large and Mrs. Henry Wood shows how such seemingly small mysteries can change the fates of entire families -- and how the suspense of such mysteries can keep the reader turning the pages.