A review by shelleys_book_nook
The House in the Water by Victoria Darke

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is one of my favourite authors, Victoria Scott, writing as Victoria Darke. I have loved every single one of Ms. Scott’s books; they all have a 4.26 or higher rating. I recommend you go to her page and check them out, you won’t be disappointed.

The author goes in a completely different direction with this story and it worked for me. We have two timelines and two female main characters. Ellen is a nurse in 1943 in an old house and Meredith (Merry) is working on the same house in 2013. We also have Merry reading Ellen’s diary and I liked that it was somewhat of an epistolary novel. As is usual for me I loved the older timeline, getting a peek at what it was like to live during that era was amazing. The story has a gothic vibe, a creepy house and a natural disaster and it all comes together perfectly in the end.

Lots of tough topics, miscarriage, grief, PTSD, sexual harassment and lots of secrets revealed. There were some very barbaric practices back then for those suffering from mental health issues and the author has done some impressive research on it. There is such a wonderful backstory to the plot, not just for the older timeline but for a lot of the characters in the present. I really thought the author was going to go one way with the story and it very much surprised me (and made me very happy) that she didn’t, I loved the way it ended, Darke weaved everything together seamlessly. As I said, the research is impeccable, the writing is absorbing and the story engrossing.

I recommend you read the author’s notes at the end of the book, you’ll be glad you did. I also want to mention the cover, it is absolutely gorgeous and I love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy. And a special thank you to Victoria Darke for asking the publisher to give me a copy.