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My name is Pat and I live in Florida. My skin will never be smooth again and my hair will never see color. I enjoy collecting autographs and playing in Paint Shop Pro.,along with reading and writing. Sometimes, I enjoy myself by doing volunteer "work" helping celebrities at autograph shows. I love animals and at one time I did volunteer work for Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve.

Friday, March 01, 2013

House of Silence

House of Silence by Linda Gillard.

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 
ISBN-10: 1479237086

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Book Description

Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n' roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her boyfriend Alfie's family home, Creake Hall - a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. Soon after she arrives, Gwen senses something isn't quite right. Alfie acts strangely toward his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. His mother, a celebrated children's author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world, unable to distinguish between past and present, fact and fiction. And then there's the enigma of an old family photograph...
When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old patchwork quilt, she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realizes there's more to the family history than she's been told. It seems there are things people don't want her to know.
And one of those people is Alfie

I am sure I was more then ready for this book!

Totally, totally enjoyed it!  It was fast reading and in the beginning it was simply girl meets boy and it begins to get serious.

Then..

He takes her “home” for Christmas. 

Then we meet “his family”.  Seemingly quite odd family. And Alfie himself changes into someone Gwen doesn’t know..and maybe doesn’t like.

Enter the gardener.

Maybe someone is sane here after all?

The story is pretty straight forward and you begin to wonder where this “mystery” is, other than maybe hiding the fact Alfie’s family is nuts.  Then Gwen notices a photo of Alfie when he was young, playing Cricket.  But Alfie was holding the mallet in his left hand….but Alfie is right handed. hmmmm…..and so begins the mystery of the secrets of the family………………….

Once the secrets begin to come out.. they literally pour out!  And just when you feel that’s it…..even more comes out!  I actually enjoyed that it all came out so quickly and then added the little twists and turns you didn’t expect at all!  I will look for more books by this author, because I certainly enjoyed this book!

This is a short book,a quick read, and something one might take along with them on a trip because it needs no deep thoughts. Even though the cover looks as if it would be a deep Victorian thing it is not..but it is a good read!

 

(and believe it or not I finished this yesterday so my very poor showing of books read for February is 3. ugh. and the page count is 1733)

7 Comments:

Blogger Linda Gillard said...

Thank you for this lovely review. I'm the author. :-) I'll be linking to it on my Facebook author page.

I was so pleased you liked all the piling on of revelations. It's a lot for a reader to take in, but I was trying to do the Agatha Christie thing of gathering everyone in the kitchen and letting The Whole Story come out. ;-)

But it was high risk. I wasn't sure readers would be sufficiently engrossed by a lot of talking! But the book has been very successful and became my best seller.

9:48 AM  
Blogger DesLily said...

Thank you for commenting on my blog Linda! I really did enjoy this book..and I can tell by how fast I read it! lol When I read a book fast it's because I can't put it down! So, thank you for your great story! I hope others I know will want to read it too!

11:36 AM  
Blogger OldLady Of The Hills said...

Oh, how lovely that the author left you a comment! This book sounds so very intriguing---I will have to get it!

2:17 AM  
Blogger Cath said...

This one sounds very good, Pat. I love a bit of family intrigue. I'll probably be reading this at some stage but first I'll be reading the author's new one, as you know. Looking forward to it.

6:36 PM  
Blogger Kathleen said...

Very interesting. I'm wondering about that left hand right hand thing. Sounds like one to add to my list.

7:12 PM  
Blogger Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Pat,

I have just read Cath's review of 'The Glass Guardian' and can't believe that I haven't come across this author before.

I checked out all of her books and liked the sound of them all, so together with your great review and glowing recemmendation for 'The House Of Silence', Linda is definitely an author on my list for future reading.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Yvonne

1:28 AM  
Blogger Linda Gillard said...

Thanks for your interest, Yvonne. :-)

3:17 AM  

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