Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton



The Distant Hours by Kate Morton


Synopsis

A long lost letter arrives in the post and Edie Burchill finds herself on a journey to Milderhurst Castle, a great but moldering old house, where the Blythe spinsters live and where her mother was billeted 50 years before as a 13 year old child during WW II. The elder Blythe sisters are twins and have spent most of their lives looking after the third and youngest sister, Juniper, who hasn’t been the same since her fiance jilted her in 1941.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in ‘the distant hours’ of the past has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.

Morton once again enthralls readers with an atmospheric story featuring unforgettable characters beset by love and circumstance and haunted by memory, that reminds us of the rich power of storytelling.

My Thoughts

This was my first read by Kate Morton. I had no idea what to expect except from all the wonderful reviews I have read from other bloggers on her books. I received an advance readers copy which was a whopping 672 pages long! Quite a chunkster for me! However, I was looking forward to reading it. I dug in with gusto. The story is very detailed and the characters are very complex. The story comes together rather slowly but it does a great job building suspense, at least it did for me. I'm not sure that if the story moved faster you would get the same effect. It is a very layered story.

I was very curious about Milderhurst and the sister's who lived in the castle. I was very curious about the letter that caused such a reaction for Edith's mother and how everything tied into the castle and the sisters. There are so many questions I had when reading the book. As more of the mystery is revealed, I found myself wondering how in the world it was all going to resolve itself. Ironically, I found the ending when the whole story finally comes together a bit rushed and I ended up reading it three times. I think at that point the suspense was killing me and I was reading it much too fast. Take your time with the ending. It is a very good one and you don't want to miss one bit of it's goodness. I will be reading Kate's other books as I think she is a wonderful storyteller. She is quite descriptive which left me with both beautiful and dark images of Milderhurst. This is a story of family, lost love, mystery and intrigue. I found myself wanting to both hurry through the story to find out the ending and wanting to savor every morsel of the story. I have never had a book do that before. I highly recommend this book.

10 comments:

  1. This sounds really good - I shall look out for a copy

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  2. So glad you liked this one - must get my hands on a copy!

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  3. I'm so glad to hear you like this one. I really want to get a copy soon. I loved The Forgotten Garden, it was one of my favorites I read this past year. If you get a chance to read it I don't think you'll be disappointed.

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  4. I've got this one waiting in my pile to read and I can't wait. I have her other books to read as well. I'm so glad you enjoyed it.

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  5. Everyone seems to love this one. It's still sitting on my shelf, calling my name.

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  6. I have just started The House at Riverton and it's also a chunky book. It's also the first time I read Kate Morton.

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  7. I loved loved loved The House at Riverton, but for some reason I have not gotten around to picking this one up even tho I've had a review copy for a while. I think it is the length, lol.
    Your review has made me move it to the top of the pile :)

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  8. Still reading and am on page 300 ... loving it but can't wait to discover all the secrets left.

    This reminds me of the time I read The Forgotten Garden and it was the same feeling of awe.

    Great review girlfriend :)

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  9. I read Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden earlier this year, & it was one of my favorites! She is such a talented writer. I'm going to buy this one in the near future.

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