THE LANTERN, Deborah Lawrenson's first novel to be published in the U.S., combines lyrical prose with two storylines, one present and one past, that will eventually touch. In the present day, Eve and Dom meet and eventually find themselves ensconced in Les Genevriers, a ramshackle farmhouse in Provence. The two enjoy each other and fixing up their enchanting home with hidden crannies and treasures. But once summer moves into autumn, their relationship cools much like the weather.

Dom's ex-wife, Rachel, has always been between them, but Eve's curiosity to know more grows with Dom's insistence not to talk about her. Sabine, a local real estate agent who also knew Rachel, befriends Eve, and eggs her on to discover more about Rachel's story. And Eve finds her home more sinister too; those cozy nooks now seem to hide shadows and secrets.

One of those secrets has to do with the family who used to live there. Benedicte Lincel, who grew up in this house with her family, working the fields and enjoying the sensory experiences of the landscape, narrates the story in the past. We learn of her sadistic brother, the death of her father and the disappearance of her blind sister, a well-known Paris perfumer. As she ages, she, too, sees ghosts in her childhood home: family members and other children come to torment her.

Lawrenson tells the story in alternating chapters, which are hard to distinguish until names are mentioned as neither has a distinctive voice. Personally, I enjoyed Benedicte's story more and could have enjoyed an entire novel just of her tale.

THE LANTERN is said to resemble Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, and while I haven't read that book, I have to say that I didn't find this book at all scary. While I can't say that I connected with either of the main characters very much, Lawrenson writes beautifully. She has an incredible ability to evoke Provence with its lush lavender fields and the wind rippling through the nut trees. Lawrenson's novel moves at a methodical pace; for some, like me, this will be too slow, but for others, this will be just right. I sense this is one of those books that some will love and others will not, but I think all will agree that Lawrenson writes in lyrical prose one can savor.