Valerie Mendes

Louisa Hamilton is sent to Larkswood, a rambling old house belonging to her grandfather to recover from glandular fever. Whilst there as she gets to know her grandfather she wants to delve further into the family history and the secrets of Larkswood.

This genre of books is one that I enjoy. A rambling old house with family secrets and a dual timeline story. In this case there is Louisa and her time spent at Larkswood and then back to 1896 with Louisa's grandfather Edward and his two sisters.

I quite enjoyed the story of Larkswood and discovering the secrets although to be honest they were easily guessed. I did find the writing a little sugary at times but it was the story I was interested in.

I was expecting something more gothic but the book didn't deliver on that. Instead the story was a family saga leading up to the big reveal. As for the secret, it was explained very quickly and rushed. Once all was revealed then the story for me finished but the book still rambled on.

Three stars as I did enjoy the story.… (meer)

Someone should create a website for readers called 'Honest Blurbs', as in 'Yeah, the plot sounds good, but be warned: the characters are cliches and the writing wanders between Enid Blyton and penny dreadful'. I'm sure Valerie Mendes' 'leap in the murky dark and adult marketplace' was well researched (she practically includes footnotes for The Times newspaper), but the end result is basically a YA novel peppered with 'taboo' themes.

Uh, spoilers? (Although I think the author has already covered that base).

I'm sure fictional incest done 'right', whatever that entails, is shocking and scandalous - as some of the hilarious reviews for Philippa Gregory's Wideacre testify - but incest glossed over as a plot device is comical and crude. The worst part of the novel for me wasn't the 'dark' plot, but the ridiculous characters - the Hamiltons are so dysfunctional, from Captain Hook and Cruella DeVille in 1897 to the 'top-hole' second generation London socialites in 1939, that I could completely believe they were all inbred. What other explanation is there? 'Grandfather' Edward, inheritor of Larkswood and believer of 'keeping it in the family', uses phrases like 'Holy smokes' and 'pukka' (as a gentle reminder that he was exiled to India), while 'Silly Milly', sister of the heroine of the hour, speaks primarily in italics. (I was waiting for one of the 'modern day' Hamiltons to order up 'lashings and lashings of ginger beer', such was the caliber of the dialogue.) Then Cynthia - was Cynthia even a popular name in the Victorian era? - announced that actually - surprise! - she had given birth in secret to two illegitimate babies but the boy was adopted out, and I gave up. Really? Really really? In fact, no, I started laughing at that point, and gave up when said son turned up in India recovering from amnesia. Of course, incest, secret children, and general dysfunctional family divisions were all neatly resolved and tied up with a big pink bow by the end, but I was speed-reading by that point, so little did I care and so much did I want to be free of this hysterical historical.

Good start, fair pacing, terrible plotting - and whoever penned the blurb is either an evil genius or an estate agent.… (meer)