I didn't find this at all easy to read or engaging. Maybe I'm too old, but the time shifts confused me as well as the lack of explicit statements of relations between people. In many ways I appreciated the author's attempt to show how secrets or simple lack of openness can have a dramatic effect on people in relationship, but there was just too much hidden from the reader (*this reader*, anyway). I think Ms Madden needed to bring us deeper into at least one person's life. Too much of the book seemed to be seen from a detached observer who could see that things were going wrong but didn't know enough to be able to understand. ( )

Madden weaves a dark story about Jane, whose parents perished in a fire when she was only two, and her two daughters. Raised by an aunt and sent to boarding school, Jane felt unwanted and unloved. She felt lonely and somehow isolated herself from society, even isolating herself from her husband. The daughters grew up loving their mother but frightened of her. The odd family dynamics contributed to strangeness in their own behaviors. The remote location plays into the novel's depictions of despair. The novel looks at loneliness, isolation, and secrets. Madden does a good job crafting the Somerset Maugham award-winning narrative. Although readers may not feel a personal connection to the characters, they may reflect on individual psychology and make comparisons to their own family dynamics. ( )

The first novel from my new favorite author - what a sad and awful tale. Just as bad as Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh, bleakest book of 2015. ( )

Dark in tone, this is the story of a family dealing individually with long-held secrets and painful pasts. The format is an interesting blend of memories and current experiences, and the landscape is as bleak as the story line. I was reminded of Thomas Hardy throughout this book. ( )