I am deeply amused that this book is essentially a gothic novel (like all the gothic novels mentioned in Jane Austen stories). As such, there's a lot of non-specific brooding tension, mysterious tales of a Fearsome Beast, some slightly ridiculous scenarios and then a rather thrilling and fast-paced set of Terrible Events that finally resolve in a rather unexpected love story. If you read it as a gothic novel (think Ann Radcliffe), then I think you, too, will be amused and delighted. If you are trying to read it as any sort of realistic romance... uh, well, good luck to you? ( )

A Gothic twist on the rags to riches story. George and Katherine face hard work and poverty as orphans in Virginia until George learns that he is the last surviving heir of his grandfather and inheritor of Walthingham Hall. However, as the pair adjust to life in the gentry, George is found dead in what initially appears to be an accidental drowning. However, Katherine cannot accept this judgement placing her in danger of being the next heir to face a tragic demise. ( )

The Guilded Cage
by Lucinda Gray

Our story takes place in the 1820's.
It begins on a hard working farm in Virginia with the happy,
duty filled lives of young Virginia and George Randolph.

Brother and sister are notified that they have inherited, from their grandfather, Walthingham Hall in England.
Their transfer from a rustic, bucolic environment to the opulent
urban society of England is facilitated by cousins already living there.
Soon her brother, a fastidious swimmer, mysteriously drowns.
The mysteries of Walthingham Hall deepen as poachers
prowl the estate and the legend? of a wild animal stalking the woods re-emerges.
The novel offers a historical presence with Gothic psychological suspense and murders to be solved.

This is the only English work that I found by Lucinda Gray.
9 additional Spanish novels were listed on Goodreads .

3.5 ★ ( )