I have a weakness for Victorian novels and Mrs Henry Wood in particular, ever since i came across 'East Lynne'. Her writing cannot stand alongside Dickens or Collins in, say, character development, matters of detail or use of language but for me she conveys a sentimentality, naïveté and quaintness (to modern ears) which I find appealing. So I enjoy a Wood novel in a very special way. Dene Hollow is interesting because it has elements of the supernatural which I haven't come across before in her writings.
