House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick Published by Graydon House Publication Date: October 17th 2017
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The wooded hills of Oxfordshire conceal the remains of the aptly named Ashdown House--a wasted pile of cinders and regret. Once home to the daughter of a king, its secrets will unite three women across four centuries in a tangle of romance, deceit and destiny...
1662--A queen
Bound by sex and birth to live for everyone but herself--and to love always in secret--Elizabeth Stuart entrusts a pair of arcane artifacts to her faithful cavalier to keep safe for her rightful heir. But fate will not be generous to the Winter Queen, throwing the question of succession into turmoil, the aftermath of which will resonate through the generations.
1801--A courtesan
Lavinia Flyte wanted so much more from life than to be a courtesan at the mercy of the cruel Lord Evershot. He has brought her to Ashdown, the home of his ancestors, for reasons he guards greedily. But the maids' whispers of hidden treasures--a pearl with the power to foretell the future--consume her with a curiosity she confides only to her diary, unaware of the misfortune that threatens.
And the mystery that binds them
Alarmed to hear her brother has gone missing at Ashdown Park, Holly Ansell is inexplicably drawn to the clues contained in the journal of a Regency courtesan who was living at the historic home when it burned to the ground two hundred years ago. Lured by the tragedy at Ashdown, Holly's search leads her not only to the truth about Lavinia, but deeper into her own connection with the Winter Queen.
For fans of Kate Morton and Barbara Erskine comes an unforgettable novel about the power one lie can have over history.
The wooded hills of Oxfordshire conceal the remains of the aptly named Ashdown House--a wasted pile of cinders and regret. Once home to the daughter of a king, its secrets will unite three women across four centuries in a tangle of romance, deceit and destiny...
1662--A queen
Bound by sex and birth to live for everyone but herself--and to love always in secret--Elizabeth Stuart entrusts a pair of arcane artifacts to her faithful cavalier to keep safe for her rightful heir. But fate will not be generous to the Winter Queen, throwing the question of succession into turmoil, the aftermath of which will resonate through the generations.
1801--A courtesan
Lavinia Flyte wanted so much more from life than to be a courtesan at the mercy of the cruel Lord Evershot. He has brought her to Ashdown, the home of his ancestors, for reasons he guards greedily. But the maids' whispers of hidden treasures--a pearl with the power to foretell the future--consume her with a curiosity she confides only to her diary, unaware of the misfortune that threatens.
And the mystery that binds them
Alarmed to hear her brother has gone missing at Ashdown Park, Holly Ansell is inexplicably drawn to the clues contained in the journal of a Regency courtesan who was living at the historic home when it burned to the ground two hundred years ago. Lured by the tragedy at Ashdown, Holly's search leads her not only to the truth about Lavinia, but deeper into her own connection with the Winter Queen.
For fans of Kate Morton and Barbara Erskine comes an unforgettable novel about the power one lie can have over history.
Cocktails and Books received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of our review.
Word of warning before you dive into this book – be prepared to stay on your toes!
House of Shadows is really 3 stories told in parallel. The chapters flip between modern day and 17th century England, with an early 19th century story woven in via a diary.
The historical story focuses on Elizabeth, The exiled Queen of Bohemia (aka the Queen of Hearts) and her supposed lover/2nd husband William, the Lord Craven and follows them from their initial meeting through more than 30 years of interactions leading to a clandestine romance.
Our modern story focuses on Holly and begins when she receives a frantic phone call from her young niece saying that her brother is missing. While Holly’s story has a romantic element via her interludes with Marc, she is more the vehicle for the introduction of the diary and a paranormal/suspense element that reaches through history to impact events.
While I enjoyed the overall story, it felt like we spent a little too much time learning the minutia of Elizabeth and Craven’s story at the expense of Holly and Marc’s. The suspense portion of the story was well crafted and closure was brought to all of the story lines of the book, but I would have enjoyed a little more relationship building in the modern era. My only other complaint was that there were a couple of modern day characters that were seemingly brought to the forefront of the story, but then very little was done with them.
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