Today is my stop on the blog tour The Glass House by Eve Chase. Many thanks to Gabby Young and Michael Joseph Penguin UK for the invite.
SYNOPSIS:
Outside a remote manor house in an idyllic wood, a baby girl is found.
The Harrington family takes her in and disbelief quickly turns to joy. They’re grieving a terrible tragedy of their own and the beautiful baby fills them with hope, lighting up the dark, dusty corners of Foxcote Manor.
Desperate not to lose her to the authorities, they keep her secret, suspended in a blissful summer world where normal rules of behaviour - and the law – don’t seem to apply.
But within days a body will lie dead in the grounds. And their dreams of a perfect family will shatter like glass.
Years later, the truth will need to be put back together again, piece by piece . . .
The Glass House is a haunting and atmospheric novel about family secrets and belonging - and how we find ourselves when we are most lost.
My Thoughts:
The Glass House is a really special book. It is one of those novels that you will keep thinking about long after you have turned the final page. It is written in a dual timeline and from the perspective of three main characters which I loved.
Rita - 1971, a nanny for the Harrington family.
Hera - 1971, the eldest daughter in the Harrington family.
Sylvia - present day, a make-up artist recently separated to her husband and mother to Annie
I loved the way the story weaved between the two eras, I must admit I found it difficult at first to understand the significance of Sylvia's story but once the pieces started falling into place I was so delighted to hear more about her life.
My favourite character was Rita. Rita's parents were both killed in a car accident when she was only a young girl and was then raised by her grandmother. Desperate to escape the country she heads off to London in search of a new life and finds herself working for the Harrington family. She adores the two children, Hera and Teddy and loves her nannying job. One tragic night their London house is involved in a house fire and Rita is forced to go with the mother and two children to their holiday home in Gloucester. Foxcote Manor is surrounded by a wooded forest, bringing back nightmares of the car accident from her childhood.
Hera loves Rita who is the only one who gives her any attention. Her mother is still in mourning having lost her baby, hours after given birth and her father is constantly working away from home. One night Hera finds a baby left outside Foxcote Manor, the family take Baby Forest in and look after her, against Rita's better wishes. Hera struggles with her relationship with her mother and when her father's best friend shows up Hera is old enough to realise the affair that is going on behind her father's back.
Sylvia has a very close relationship with her own mother despite living miles away from one other. After her separation from her husband Sylvia's own daughter, Annie is having a hard time accepting the split and escapes to spend time with her grandmother in Devon. During this time Sylvia's mother has a fall and is rushed to hospital where she remains in a coma.
I was so caught up in the lives of these women that I found it extremely hard to put this book down. From the synopsis you know that a body will be found in the forest and I was wracking my brain to try and guess who that body would belong to. The added mystery surrounding Sylvia and how she 'fit' into the 1970s story line was also very intriguing and made me want to keep on reading. When the pieces of the puzzle slowly started falling into place I was shocked but also delighted by the connection.
Eve Chase writes with such elegance and beauty as her descriptive writing not only draws you in but allows you to visualise and immerse yourself within the novel. She explores sensitive issues with care and empathy which pulls at your heartstrings. I found this an atmospheric, emotional read and I loved every moment of it. This is definitely a book I will be recommending to family and friends
It has been a real pleasure to read and review this book and I will look forward to future novels by Eve Chase. Many thanks once again to Gaby Young, Michael Joseph Penguin UK and Netgalley for a copy of this eBook.
AUTHOR:
Eve Chase worked as a journalist for women’s magazines and national newspapers for many years and has previously written bestselling contemporary novels under the name Polly Williams.
After moving from London to Oxford, she wanted to write a different sort of novel, darker, bigger, layered, weaving the story’s present with its tangled, hidden past.
The result was Black Rabbit Hall. She still lives in Oxford with her family, and a very hairy golden retriever, Harry. The Glass House is her third Eve Chase novel.