Sunday 7 February 2021

The Glass House - Eve Chase || Review

 


Outside a remote manor house in an idyllic wood, a baby girl is found.

The Harrington family takes her in and disbelief quickly turns to joy. They're grieving a terrible tragedy of their own and the beautiful baby fills them with hope, lighting up the house's dark, dusty corners. Desperate not to lose her to the authorities, they keep her secret, suspended in a blissful summer world where normal rules of behaviour - and the law - don't seem to apply.

But within days a body will lie dead in the grounds. And their dreams of a perfect family will shatter like glass. Years later, the truth will need to be put back together again, piece by piece . . .

From the author of Black Rabbit Hall, The Glass House is a emotional, thrilling book about family secrets and belonging - and how we find ourselves when we are most lost.



I read this as part of my bestie lockdown book club, we started it in lockdown one and revived it in lockdown three. I'm not going to lie it was mostly the beautiful cover that drew us too it, its stunning. However, i have read Eve before in Black Rabbit Hall and i remember she had a stunning writing style.

So - what is this about? The Harrington family flee their family home in the city with their nanny after a tragedy for a summer of escapism and a chance for all of them to heal. As the days pass by and everyone tries to recover, the summer seems endless. One day though, a baby is found left in the wood - unsure what to do the Harringtons take her in, hidden from the authorities - the family begins to heal and this baby is bringing them back together. Yet days later, a body lies dead in the wood and everything that was so blissful is soon changed.

Told overtime from different perspective everyone must put together what actually happened that summer and how it led to the outcomes it did. I loved reading this, it was an intricate family mystery with complex relationships. Its all intertwined with what happened that summer. Eve has created in depth characters with their own battles to fight, she has a way with words that creates this world that is unlike anything else. It's vivid, its beautiful, its obsessive and impulsive. 

I found she built the narrative well and i enjoyed turning every page putting the mystery together until it all fell into place. It was so addictive, both me and my bestie found ourselves unable to put this down and was sneaking a chance to read every spare 5 minutes we had. This was a stunning book and i really think everyone should read it, there is enough mystery and drama that brings it to life but its not just that, its family, relationships and so much more.






Eve Chase is the author of Black Rabbit Hall and The Wildling Sisters, and the pseudonym of journalist and novelist Polly Williams. She lives in Oxford, England with her husband and three children.



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