A very enjoyable story set in modern day France running alongside a story set during the French Revolution of the 18th Century. The end is a crossing of paths of the two stories which are entwined throughout. Cleverly written with realistic characters.

I was looking forward to a book where the main characters were not twenty something however I found this disappointing. I found the language immature and irritating and the characters much the same.

I loved this book, I have read all of Kathleen’s books and so have enjoyed them all. They are all so different. In this one I loved the dual time-line and it wasn’t hard to keep track. The story kept me interested all the way through and was desperate to find out what happened in the end and was very sad when I finished it, as I am with all of her books. She is such a talented writer and I hope she continues to write books like this one in the future.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Good yarn, nice easy read and some interesting historical facts. Good to have a story centred around retirees setting out on a new adventure but I found the French idyll rather unrealistic especially knowing people who have embarked on a similar undertaking.
It was all too easy for them and I found myself irritated by the lack of obstacles in the way of a move to a foreign country. Where was all the bureaucracy and difficulties that are reality.
Nevertheless a nice read and relaxing dream.

Rarely do I come across a book I cannot put down but this was definitely one of them. After a friendly get together a group of friends decide to retire to France buying a château they can all live in this book follows that move and the changes they face. A château said to be haunted by a man but who is he and why? I loved the way the author writes from two eras not only a present point of view but one from long ago. Lu and her husband Phil have a lot in common with Pierre and Catherine and I felt empathy for both women and their husbands. I am glad the château became a family home once again.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found the characters and links very believable. Would definitely recommend this book to those readers who enjoy historical stories linked to the present time.

I love the dual timeline in this novel. Both stories are equally good and absorbing.

The French Revolution and the Reign of Terror is an excellent backdrop for dramatic scenes. From the outset, I was expecting things to not go too well for the Auberts. But, I found myself not having too much sympathy for Catherine Aubert as she is the archetypical spoilt aristocrat of the era for most of her story.

In the present day, a group of friends find themselves in a position to retire relatively young and buy a chateau together, which seems idyllic and a great adventure. I was expecting there to be some tensions as they settle in together but everything is harmonious. However, the chateau has the reputation of being haunted which leads to one of the new owners to start researching its history. The story is mysterious, tragic and light at the same time.

I just loved how the two storylines came together and mystery of the chateau became revealed.

This is my first book by Kathleen McGurl and I must say, she has a new fan in me! This book has the best of both worlds, a story set in revolutionary France in the late 1700s as well as a modern day story. McGurl's method of entwining the two tales kept me wanting to read more and I was sad when the last page was turned and I had to let the characters go.

I wasnt sure at first about the 'time slip' type of story but got into it and enjoyed travelling back to the 18th century and that awful period in French history, the French Revolution and The Reign of Terror; then back again to the present day.

Pierre, Catherine and Claudette had to flee for their lives from Versailles dressed as peasants as they were aristocrats and would have been caught and probably executed by the mob. They escaped to Pierre's chateau further north with Claudette, their maid. Pierre seems a nice man with some sympathy for the peasants but Catherine who is very young and immature is such an aristocratic snob. Influenced by Marie Antoinette.

Present day brings us the 5 friends who relocate to France and the chateau in question after a lot of wine has been drunk and ideas circulated, but they arrived eventually. Lu, Philip, Manda, Steve and Gray are 5 lifelong friends from university days who have stuck together. Despite Lu's initial reluctance which she kept to herself, they settled down to a very different way of life and Lu set about researching the history of the Chateau.

Thank you net galley for the chance to read this arc. I really appreciate it.

With alternating chapters, you follow the narratives of two stories, one set at the time of the French Revolution and the other in present day France. As you pick up the threads of each timeline, there is no confusion, so deftly is this novel plotted. There is plenty of historical detail about the life at Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI and the tensions between the ordinary French people and the aristocrats where certain levels of society felt that they had a divine right to the lion's share of the riches of the country. When you travel forward in time to the group of friends who decide to emigrate to France and to settle in the Chateau, you can see that the prosperous retirees have no difficulty in finding their own niche in the French society.

You can see attitudes to bringing up children in both storylines. Catherine Aubert copies the approach of the aristocrats she meets in the French court and largely hands her son over to the servants. You see how her thoughts about this develop. The children of the ex-pats have grown up but you discover the importance they have to their parents even in adulthood. There are some interesting plotlines and situations throughout. I did guess the secret of the chateau but that did not detract from my enjoyment of this historical novel.
Thanks to the author for a copy of the book

A delightful dual timeline book providing a perfect escape.

In the first timeline, five friends decide to leave England and retire together to France where they buy a beautiful old chateau in Provence. The reader follows their move and how they settle in their new life. One of the friends, Lu, feeling uprooted and unsettled, decides to research the story of the chateau. Her research uncovers that the owners are the de Verais family with the history of the castle going back to the French Revolution in the late 1700’s. And this is the second timeline where the reader follows aristocrats Pierre and Catherine Aubert, Comte and Comtesse de Verai and their servant Claudette, as they flee Versailles undercover through streets teeming with danger. However, escaping to the chateau is not the end of their problems.
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My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐

Thanks to #NetGalley for eARC. Reviewed 31/05/2020

When I heard that Kathleen McGurl had a new novel coming out this month, I knew I had to be a part of the blog tour. I loved the author’s 2 previous novels: The Forgotten Secret and The Stationmaster’s Daughter so I was really looking forward to The Secret of the Château. It is an historical, time slip novel set in France (my favourite books!) and I loved it!

One sunny Sunday, I sat on my reading bench in the garden and got lost in this story about new beginnings, communal living, a sense of community, and finding yourself.

I time-travelled back to France in 1789 and to the Court of Louis XVI at the beginning of the French Revolution. In the present day, I spent hours at the Château d’Aubert in the fictional village of Saint-Michel-sur-Verais in the very real Alpes-Maritimes department of South East France. I adore France and I am sad not to be visiting this year, so to be able to travel to the my favourite corner of France with Kathleen McGurl’s novel was comforting.

The historical story is told from the point of view of 3 characters: Pierre Aubert, an adviser to Louis XVI, his young wife Catherine – in Marie Antionette’s circle – and Catherine’s maid, Claudette. Pierre, in his fifties and a widower, married Catherine in the hope that she could give him an heir but I believe he truly loved her. Catherine is 19 and a child herself. She is selfish, snobbish and immature. Her character mirrors that of Marie Antoinette and the Queen is a great influence on her. When the Revolution starts, the family flee the Palace of Versailles and head to Pierre’s ancestral home, the Château d’Aubert in Saint-Michel-sur-Verais, thinking it will be safer for their children. Unbeknown to them, it was about to get much worse.

The present day story is told solely from Lu’s point of view. Lu, her husband and their 4 friends decide to sell up and retire to a run down château in France. The group are at a time in their lives where their families have flown the nest and it is time to focus on them. Each of the friends settle into life at the château and find their own rhythm. It takes Lu a bit longer than the others as she needs to give herself permission to spend time doing things just for her and working through her grief from losing her mum. Lu was a history teacher and she is intrigued to find out more about the château’s past. It’s whilst she’s researching it’s history that we see how Pierre and Catherine’s story fits into the present day. The two timelines sit closely together as what we don’t find out from Pierre and Catherine, we find out through Lu’s research.

If I’m honest, I preferred the present day story more, mainly because I love a house with a secret and a story with a mystery to be solved. I also enjoyed following Lu’s journey. Nevertheless, the historical story was well written – as I would expect from Kathleen McGurl – and necessary in order to piece together the findings from Lu’s research. The two stories were nicely woven together.

If you’re looking for an escapist read to enjoy in the sunshine this bank holiday weekend, then I would recommend downloading the The Secret of the Château.

I loved how it went from the past to the present it made for an interesting and informative read. I was taken in from the first chapter of each of the two stories that were being told. The French Revolution and how friends bought a chateau together and the search for it's history and the solution to a long standing mystery. I really didn't want this book to end I was so intrigued and caught up in the stories. I would definitely recommend this book.

Look.

Kathleen McGurl just gets it. The dual timeline plot narrative can be tricky if not done right, but it can be BRILLIANT when done well. Enter Kathleen.

I honestly don't really know how else to explain it other than this author writes books that you WANT TO READ. That you HAVE TO FINISH. Ones that you CANNOT PUT DOWN. I don't tend to wander too far from my favorite historical genres, WWI and WWII, but I figured for McGurl (author of a favorite from last year, The Forgotten Secret) I would do it.

Venturing into revolutionary era France was not exactly new to me, but it's not something I would even remotely consider myself learned in. However, that really didn't matter. McGurl does a great job with show & tell without ever making the reader feel inadequate or that they're being told something, which is not something that I think comes easy to every historical fiction writer.

I really liked both the past and present day stories (um, hi, hello, where are my four friends that want to go in on buying a chateau in France? Give me a ring, yeah?), and it's fair to say that this book HOOKED me right from the start. (Brilliant prologue. Just. Brilliant.)

Also, if you need any more incentive to give her a try? After finishing this book, I went to my ereader and bought up basically all of her backlist. Kathleen McGurl is the real deal, y'all.

Thank you to NetGalley and HQ Digital for the opportunity to read and review this book before it's publication date! This in no way affected my review, opinions are my own.

In 1789, Pierre and his wife Catherine live in the Palace of Versailles and are part of King Louis XVI’s court. But the revolution kicks off and they’re not safe, so they take refuge in their chateau in the French Alps. But as things worsen, Pierre realises he has to make some decisions to keep him and his family safe…..but will they be able to escape the mobs?

In the present day, Lu and her friends decide that there isn’t much keeping them in England so decide to jointly buy a chateau in France. But when they arrive, locals keep mentioning odd things to the friends about ghosts and a missing aristocrat……Lu decides, as a historian, that it is time she started to look into the mystery. But as strange things happen in the house, and she does more digging, she realises that the chateau holds many mysteries. Will she be able to uncover the secrets of the chateau?

I thoroughly enjoyed this! Told via multiple narratives, the story flits between present day and the late 1700s, as we follow Pierre, his wife & servants and Lu, Phil and her friends (present day). The chateau sounds like an absolute dream; I was so jealous as I would love to move somewhere like this! In the present day we’re getting to know Lu and her friends and what they’ve been through in their lives – they’re are all using their move to France as a fresh start. Then in the late 1700’s we’re getting to know Pierre and his family, as well as experience the French Revolution and it’s outcomes. As Lu is looking into the history, we learn what happened from Pierre’s point of view.

I have to confess, as a history fan, I don’t really know anything about the French Revolution (despite the fact that I”m sure we studied it at school but I literally can’t remember anything!). This novel really bought it to life for me and made me want to look into it more – so I’ll be doing some of my own research!

The story itself had me intrigued and I didn’t want to put it down. I wanted the chateau to reveal its secrets, and I wasn’t disappointed! I was able to picture the story playing out in my mind like I was watching a film which made it even more real for me. The tale is heartbreaking, eye opening, heartwarming in places and so interesting. I was actually quite disappointed when I finished that the story and mystery was over!

I did find that in some places the author seemed to repeat things that I didn’t feel were necessary – especially at the beginning of the book, but this was a minor frustration and I loved the story so much that it didn’t really matter! Despite the fact that it’s told from multiple viewpoints and from different centuries, it’s easy to follow and enjoyable to read. If you’re a fan of historical fiction or want to read a bit of a different mystery, then you should definitely check this out. I’ll most definitely be looking out for more from this author.

I really enjoyed this book, combining a contemporary story of a group of sixty year olds setting out on a new venture and a tragic story from more than 200 years earlier, both taking place in the same chateau in France. Whose is the face at the window, and why is the window even there when, as far as they know, there is no room in that part of the tower? Lu is an ex history teacher with time on her hands and a curious mind. If there's a mystery hidden in the chateau's past, she is determined to solve it. Full of historic detail and beautifully described settings, with a sad but unsurprising ending.

I really enjoyed reading this book and how the story was written with parallel stories.
Telling the story of the Auberts, a couple of notoriety during the reign of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI and their lives during the French Revolution to the story of a group of friends who decide to retire in the South of France.
This book is great for history lovers, those who love to travel and also one for the mystery lovers.

I enjoyed this dual time frame story set at the time of the French Revolution and in the current day.

I loved the idea of leaving behind a hum-drum life in England and taking early retirement to purchase a gloriously romantic French chateau with a group of well-loved friends. This life-changing move to a new life in another country happened suspiciously smoothly but, for Lu, ripples of disquiet lay beneath the surface of her outwardly calm face. Until recently, she’d cared for her mother until her death and then her fifty-something husband had a heart attack, leaving her again in the self-appointed role of carer. As Phil recovers and takes up gardening and Steve, Manda and Grey all find new interests, Lu feels unfulfilled. It appears though that the chateau has a resident ghost and Lu decides to investigate the stories of the chateau’s previous owners.

The parallel stories of aristocrats Pierre and Catherine Aubert living at Versailles and the Chateau Aubert during the time of the Terror, contrasts well with the contemporary concerns of the five friends as they settle into their new home and find ways to become a part of the community.

The Secret of the Chateau is a feel-good story that kept me turning the pages right to the end. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley who gave me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Lu Marlow and her husband Phil have an evening together with their friends that they have known since University.

Manda and Steve have a grown up daughter Zoe. Graham is single, they are all retired and nearly 60. They come up with the idea of selling their homes and buying a joint property in France. They end up purchasing “Chateau d’Aubert”

The chapters alternate between the present time and the 1780’s. Comte de Verais Pierre Aubert, and wife Catherine are part of the royal court, until they are forced to flee to his ancestors chateau after the palace is attacked by French Revolutionaries. Will they be safe there.

In the present time the friends are settling into their new home. Lu decides to look into the history of the chateau and the Aubert family.

I loved this book and was drawn into it from the first page. The history of the French Revolution was very interesting and I loved how the two timelines played out slowly revealing the chateau’s secret. The vivid descriptions of the chateau, the mountains and villages really bought this story to life.

A must read for any fans of historical mysteries.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

The Secret Of The Chateau by Kathleen McGurl is an intriguing dual timeline story which I loved due to the historical aspect, the French Revolution.In the Court of Versailles,Pierre and Catherine Aubert, the Comte and Comtesse de Verais are members of the Court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoniette. As the Revolution takes a hold, the family flee to their country Chateau for safety, they hope to stay there. The Revolutionary forces begin to widen their searches and the family are forced to flee their home once again. Events begin to spiral , will the family escape or not?
The present day story is told by Lu, one of a group of friends who do everything together. One boozy night the idea of buying a house on France is brought up. Lu is one who is less than enthusiastic but the idea becomes reality when they buy a beautiful Chateau in the foothills of the Alps. They move in and begin to explore the village and meet residents. Lu decides she needs something to do and decides to research the history of Chateau D'Aubert, here is where two worlds collide.
Being a history geek, I adored this gentle stroll through the previous centuries of France and the interweaving of the two stories was really well done. I almost felt like I was in the Alps at the Chateau with everyone. I also loved learning about the French Revolution as it is a period of history I don't know a lot about.Thanks to Rachels Random Resources and Netgalley for my invite onto this leisurely stroll though time with the family D'Aubert and then the Ex-Pats!