You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DNF at 200 pages. This book dragged on way too much and didn't hold my attention.
Oooh, probably my favorite Kate Morton, after The Forgotten Garden! This is a story about families and secrets, a shocking crime and the mystery surrounding it, and not one but two fabulous houses! There's a book within a book - oh yeah. Lots of Australian atmosphere - at least it seems that way to me, having never been there. Good, old-fashioned story-telling is here, that kept me reading late at night. I don't always love long books but this was well written enough and of sufficient length to let me really sink into it.
It's true there are flawed characters here - if you need to love someone in the book to keep reading it, you might not be happy. I liked learning as I read about the characters' flaws, hidden positive attributes, mistaken beliefs, and multiple layers. There's nothing more boring than a novel whose characters are laid out at the beginning and who never change. We all change, we all make mistakes, we all think one thing for ages and then find out we were wrong. I like reading about people like that.
My only minor quibble is that I'm not sure I like the solution to the mystery! I had a couple of other theories in my head that I actually liked better! So perhaps the ending wasn't quite what I wanted, but that has nothing to do with whether or not this is a good book. It is. You should read it!
It's true there are flawed characters here - if you need to love someone in the book to keep reading it, you might not be happy. I liked learning as I read about the characters' flaws, hidden positive attributes, mistaken beliefs, and multiple layers. There's nothing more boring than a novel whose characters are laid out at the beginning and who never change. We all change, we all make mistakes, we all think one thing for ages and then find out we were wrong. I like reading about people like that.
My only minor quibble is that I'm not sure I like the solution to the mystery! I had a couple of other theories in my head that I actually liked better! So perhaps the ending wasn't quite what I wanted, but that has nothing to do with whether or not this is a good book. It is. You should read it!
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed the plot development and the twists and turns
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A slow-burner looking at generational trauma from a horrific event and set in the Adelaide Hills. It took a while for me to get into this book, I think because I didn't particularly like any of the characters, but I guess that shows Morton's ability to create real, flawed characters. It also annoyed me a LOT that the hills were described as mountains on one occasion
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was my first Kate Morton book - and it won’t be the last. Her writing is beautiful and there were surprises until the end with several unforeseen twists. When I was about 65% thru the book, I was totally engaged and anticipated that I’d be giving it 4 stars. But then it went on and on and on. 544 pages. I speed-read the last 180 pages and still don’t feel I missed anything. I think Morton and her editor could have trimmed this book significantly and it would have been even better.