By Kerryn Goldsworthy
Le Chateau
SARAH RIDOUT
Le Chateau By Sarah Ridout
ECHO, $29.99
Charlotte has hit her head in a mysterious accident and can't remember a thing. She's told she lives in this exotic chateau, the man anxiously hovering nearby is her French husband Henri, and the unhappy child who lives with them is her daughter Ada, who simply wants her mother back. Nor does she remember her formal mother-in-law, who runs the family wine business, has her own wing in the chateau, isn't very fond of her son's Australian wife, and is a repressive presence. The formality of French life, the weirdness of incidental events, the bewilderment of amnesia and the great beauty of the countryside are all vividly realised in this well-crafted contemporary gothic fiction. There is a credibility-stretching solution to the mystery, but the book has a good sensationalist plot and no pretensions.