A thoroughly enjoyable dual time phase read with a mystery that spans decades and centres on a beautiful old country house that hides a tragic history..
The story opens to a short scene in which a bloodied body is being dragged by fours sisters through the grass and then leaves the reader questioning what has happened as we are catapulted through time fifty years forward to the present day where Jessie and Will are viewing a beautiful old country house, Applecote Manor, in need of renovation. The viewing, undertaken with their daughters, Romy and the teenage Bella - daughter to Will and his first wife, tragically killed in a traffic accident several years earlier - goes well despite a reluctance on Bella's part, and the family move in.
Moving back through time we build up a picture of the Wilde sisters, who come to stay at Applecote in the summer of 1959 when their bohemian mother takes a job abroad for the summer. The manor belongs to their uncle and aunt who tragically lost their daughter Audrey, who went missing from the family home several years before.
The house has turned into a sort of mausoleum by their aunt and uncle, both lost in memories of their lost daughter but for the four sisters Applecote presents a scorching hot summer and a coming of age. One of the sisters, Margot however is wrapped up in what became of cousin Audrey and begins to delve and question events which leads to a terrible discovery and embroils all four sisters in a frighteningly horrible situation which binds them together.
Present day Bella begins to uncover what has been hidden all these years and her somewhat patchy relationship with Jessie begins to heal as the house begins to uncover its secrets. I love dual time frame stories and this one didn't disappoint.

Sorry, but I just didn't get on with this book at all. I really disliked the writing style, full of pompous try-hard phrasing ('narrows her eyes to glossy pupil-filled cracks', a world 'reduced to something more intense and salty, like a sort of gravy', 'we're dealing them torturous knowledge') and it constantly got between me and the story being told. The start is intriguing but then the switch to present-day Jessie is packed full of clichés from the mutinous step-teen to the let's-leave-London-for-a-lovely-house-in-the-country trope: in fact, the whole present-day story felt redundant.

I'm sure readers more firmly in the 'women's issues' category will get on better but this wasn't for me - apologies!

Set in two timelines, this is an expertly crafted, beautifully written murder mystery. Brimming with well chosen prose and an intrigingly complex group of characters, this book is hauntingly atmospheric and instantly drew me in. Absolutely loved it!

I loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery. The two time frames, although not too far apart, add to the story and provide plenty of cliff-hangers as we move between both periods. The writing here seemed so strong and assured, and I am now very keen to read Black Rabbit Hall by the same author. Brilliant!

This book sounded interesting but it struggled to keep my attention. The story centres around a house and events that surrounded it. You jump between the past and the present and this works I am just not sure the story was strong enough

Beautifully written story about families, sisters, love and secrets. Present day and 1959 are magically woven together into a captivating read.

I loved this. It's set in an old house, Applecote Manor in the Cotswolds, and is full of mystery and suspense. The story is told in the present day and the 1950's. The current owners of the house are Jessie, her husband, her teenage stepdaughter and young daughter. Jessie believes the house will be a great family home but her stepdaughter feels uneasy there. In the 1950's the previous owners lost their daughter Audrey in unexplained circumstances. When Audrey's 4 cousins, all sisters, go to stay in the house in the summer of 1959 they begin to unravel what actually happened to Audrey, events that will affect Jessie and her family in the present day.

A haunting story set in two time zones, 1950s and present day, at an old manor house in the Cotswolds which, as with many old houses, seem to absorb the secrets within their walls and create atmospheres of their own. Beautifully written prose and very descriptive which evoked hot floating Summer days lost in the past but with a grim undercurrent and the harsher reality of present day with a modern dysfunctional family moved from London during the bleaker Autumn and Winter days, which run alongside each other seamlessly. There is a unexpected, but settled ending after all the tumult with many twists and turns right up until the finish where the characters from the past and the present come together. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, identified with the characters from both eras and found it compelling. I have not come across Eve Chase before and see she has written a previous novel which I shall definitely be reading and I shall be recommending this new novel to family, friends and reading groups in which I am involved. A new author I shall be following in the future