The Sleeper by Gillian White (Book Summary)

Purchase The Sleeper by Gillian White via Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ysXTe1

Violet Moon is a medium who lives on her own, but she spends every Christmas with Fergus. Fergus is her son, married to Clover, and they have two daughters. During Christmas, the friends of Fergus (Jonna & Diana) also get invited. This is how they usually spend Christmas every year; however, their Christmas was a mess for this year.

There was suddenly no electricity due to a storm. On top of that, Fergus and Jonna found a dead woman, which they, later on, decided to hide in the barn as they did not want to worry their families. While preparing for Christmas, Clover has had close encounters with death, and she blames her mother-in-law Violet for it. First, she fell down the stairs. Second, she drank acid because she thought it was gin. Third, there was broken glass on her pudding. She raised her concern to Fergus already, but he wouldn’t listen as he thought his mother could not do such a thing. Clover asked for help from Jonna and Diana, they helped her convince Fergus, but he was still hesitant.

Meanwhile, back in Happy Haven (a hotel for the elderly), Valerie is worried because a resident (Miss Bates) is missing. Valerie is the manageress, and the Tarbucks are her employers, but when she called the police, she hinted about their involvement because she had seen them before in her room. Her suspicions were confirmed when Miss Kessel, the roommate of Miss Bates, confided in her the facts she didn’t tell the police. Miss Kessel narrated that Miss Bates was from a mental institution and locked up since she was a kid. She has stayed in Happy Haven because she is looking for her sister. Miss Kessel also admitted that Miss Bates acts weird – she talks to herself and moans all night long. When Valerie inspected the documents that Miss Kessel provided, she noticed that the Tarbucks had been paying for her stay.. and she immediately thought that the Tarbucks had something to do with her disappearance. Valerie was ready to use this information to find Miss Bates. However, the Tarbucks gave her a generous offer, and she decided to keep everything to herself in exchange for that bribe. Valerie talked to the Tarbucks, and they told her that they didn’t have anything to do with the disappearance of Miss Bates. The truth is: Miss Bates had been locked up in a mental institution for a long time, and Jason Tarbuck was a nurse. Jason Tarbuck got involved with one of the patient’s death. That patient was a friend of Miss Bates. After that incident, Jason Tarbuck left the institution. After 5 years, Miss Bates saw an advertisement in a magazine that Jason Tarbuck had opened Happy Haven – so she sent him a letter blackmailing him about what he did to a patient. Jason obliged. He got her out of the institution and gave her free accommodation at Happy Haven. The Tarbucks does not have anything to do with where Miss Bates is. They just want to make sure that the documents she left behind will not reveal their secret so that their reputation would not be stained.

As for what happened to Miss Bates, she died on her way to kill her sister that she has been looking for. Miss Bates’ stepsister is Violet, who was currently living on the farm with Fergus for Christmas. Miss Bates first went to Violet’s home, but she was advised to be on the farm. While going to the farm, there was a storm. She drowned and died. She was later on found by Fergus and Jonna.

Miss Bates really wanted to find her stepsister Violet and kill her.

When Violet’s mom died, her dad married another woman, Sheena. Sheena has a daughter named Kate Lewis (who changed her surname to Bates after being released). Sheena has treated Violet horribly, and while the three of them were on vacation, Violet pushed Sheena – guided by Clover’s late mother’s voice. Violet ran after Sheena, but she heard her mother’s voice again, telling her what to do next. Violet yelled and pointed at Kate, accusing her of pushing her own mother. Kate was then locked in a mental institution and was only released 60 years later by the Tarbucks.

As for Violet, she has only visited Kate once after 50 years, and just out of curiosity – she didn’t talk to her. She still hasn’t told anyone about how she killed Sheena and blamed Kate.

For this year’s Christmas, Violet was blamed for a crime she didn’t commit. She was blamed for trying to kill her son’s wife, Clover. Violet could hear them whispering. She also knows that Clover has been having an affair with Jonna, but she wasn’t the one who has been trying to kill her – it was Diana.

Diana has been Clover’s best friend since she was young. Diana is Jonna’s wife but, at the same time, an ex-lover of Fergus. Nobody also knows that her two twin sons are not Jonna’s but the son of Fergus. Her infidelity with Fergus happened only once, unlike Jonna and Clover’s affair, which is still ongoing (she knows, and she is not threatened as she is no longer that fond of Jonna). Diana just started hating on Clover as she always complained and was very ungrateful. Diana has also realized just now that turning down Fergus for a life with Jonna was a mistake. Right now, she just wants Clover to leave Fergus – instead of ranting about how awful Fergus is but refusing to leave.

After 3 attempts of hurting Clover, Diana finally kills her. Since Clover has been following Fergus around, afraid of what Violet might do next, Diana had the perfect opportunity to push Clover on a pit of shit. Diana pushed her, and Clover drowned, she tried calling Fergus, but it was too late for him to notice. He tried saving her, but she was already buried deep down. Coincidentally, Violet was standing by the edge. The last thing Clover saw before she drowned was Violet, but there was a shadow behind her that was walking away – it was Diana, but nobody else saw her. Fergus only saw Violet and immediately blamed her. They asked for help to retrieve Clover’s body. When the police arrived, Jonna also showed them the body they found, which turned out to be the missing Miss Bates. The Tarbucks and Valerie were informed by the police.

Violet was then locked up in a mental institution. She tried to continue being a medium; however, it seemed like she could no longer do that because Kate’s voice had started haunting her.

The End of The Sleeper by Gillian White.

List of Characters: 

• • • Violet Moon – a medium/mother of Fergus / stepsister of Kate/Miss Bates
    • Fergus – a farmer/husband of Clover
    • Clover – wife of Fergus
    • Jonna – a friend of Fergus / husband of Diana / lover of Clover
    • Diana – best friend of clover / wife of Jonna
    • Valerie – manages Happy Haven
    • Miss Bates – the dead woman that was found / Violet’s stepsister
    • Miss Kessel – roommate of Miss Bates
    • Jason Tarbuck – the owner of Happy Haven

Purchase The Sleeper by Gillian White via Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ysXTe1