Rating: 3.5/5

This is a historical fiction like no other! This is a tale of love, family, war, bigotry, and hope!

Three women. Three different time periods. One house, the Rochester Place, connects all of them.

1924: Mary is an Irish young woman who took a leap of faith and moved to London.

1937: Teresa is a 10 year old who is evacuated to London from Spain after the horrific bombing of Guernica leaving behind her only family; her elder sister.

Present Day: Corinne is an emergency service operator who gets a call from an extremely distressed Irish woman named Mary. On the call, the panic stricken woman cries for Corinne to save a little girl who is trapped under the rubble of Rochester Place. When an emergency unit reaches the address Mary tells, they find absolutely nothing.

Corinne cannot get the mysterious call out of her mind and decides to visit the address, hidden In the heart of modern day Tooting, Corinne discovers a destroyed Rochester Place. What alarms her the most is a wooden plaque that states Mary Davidson and Teresa Garro lost their lives here on 15th October 1940.

Thus begins a story of Corinne unravelling the mystery that plagues her mind and maybe even her family. Read to find out how history brings and connects these three women together.

Although this is an intriguing read, I'll be honest, the first half of the book isn't as gripping and is a little tiresome to read. However, once the second half starts, you won't be able to put down this book until all the secrets of Rochester Place are revealed. The narration of the story alternates between different time periods and different narrators. I was extremely surprised with the twist in the story even though it seemed a bit too convenient.

Overall, it is a great read and I would recommend this to readers who enjoy historical fiction.

A beautiful story of love and survival, going on beyond the time. Just the location stays the same, Rochester Place.

An Irish woman called Mary rings Corinne, an emergency services operator, and says she’s trapped under rubble in a house that no longer exists, a house that was bombed in the Blitz, more than 70 years ago. Corinne is immediately immersed in a mystery of a strange phone call and starts to investigate on her own what was going on in the middle of WWII.
In the spring of 1937, a young Basque girl Teresa is evacuated to London from Guernica. When she hears the news that Bilbao had fallen and called out for Mari, the goddess of the mountains, the universe sends her an Irish storyteller with cherry-red shoes instead.

This is a story about neverending love, hatred, ignorance, bigotry, refugees, goodness, and hope. Everything is possible and not only by imagination.

The novel is fascinating, written with great compassion for all the characters, past and current times. All of them are well developed and relatable. Mary is a modern woman, even though she lives in times when differences between men and women were greater than today. Teresa is just a child, but she has to grow up fast.

Can a house bring the family together again? Does everything happen in circles?

An enjoyable and emotional read. Hearty book.

Well written with a compelling storyline with a dual timeline and well developed characters. The pacing was slow burning at times but increased as the tension in plot increased. Twisty and unpredictable and kept me guessing.

A decent dual timeline story that has a mystery from beginning to end, and plenty of secrets in the middle.
At times it felt a little slow for my liking.i particularly enjoyed the character of Mary.
Enjoyable.