Very interesting plot with great characters. This story has it all, a bit of a mystery, romance and historical fiction. Very much enjoyed it. Thank you for this arc for an honest review. My apologies for the late review I fell a bit behind.

I'm not usually a reader of Historical Fiction but I requested this as I fell in love with the gorgeous cover design and the description sounded thrilling.

This book didn't disappoint - it was full of twists, turns and unexpected secrets and kept me guessing right until the end.

I loved the writing style, the gorgeous setting and the beautiful way that the characters are brought to life.

A must read for any historical fiction fan, and even those who aren't!

Firstly, I have to say, what’s gorgeous cover this book has, just perfectly chosen for the story contained within its pages.

Well this story literally grabbed a hold of me and sucked me in. It was highly captivating, dramatic, full of secrets, surprises and intrigue, I literally could not turn the pages fast enough, with wanting to find out what happens next and as to how it would all end.

It didn't take me long to be drawn into the stories of both Sidney and Leonard back in 1890 and that of Phoebe in 1920, I was captivated right from the first few chapters. I loved how the story went back and forth from past to present day which was done so seamlessly.

I thought the story was brilliantly well written, it's clear from the details within as to just how much research the author must have done, she really has done a magnificent job. As for the characters they were all so very well portrayed and believable, I really did just lose myself within all of their individual stories.

So last words, If you love dual timeline storylines which are full of mystery, suspense, twists and turns then I can highly recommend this beautiful tale which will keep you on the edge of your seat right to the very last chapter.

Engaging book, it moves slowly, snaring you into wanting to know more! You as a reader are rewarded by the mystery unfolding in front of your eyes. Enjoyable and keeps you on your toes with the plot twists. The dual timeframe adds to the suspense. Good read.

Thank you Netgalley

A family saga over a dual time line.

This book is set in both the 1890’s and 1920’s. I enjoy dual timeline stories and this one has an interesting twist with a set of puzzles that need to be solved to unlock the secrets of the house set by a Machiavellian owner of the house when his wife abandons him and their two sons.

Phoebe arrives at the house in the 1920’s following the death of her parents. Determined to discover their link to Halesham and those who reside there.

It took me until about a third of the way in to become invested in the characters and I found it slightly formulaic in parts. The change in phoebes. “uncle” is a key element in the book but it seemed to happen quite suddenly after 20 years of authoritarian rule.

Can the mystery of the house be revealed after all this time and can the ghosts of the past be put to rest?

Wow, what a read, loved it.

I'm not quite sure what you would call it, a little bit of historical fiction, a little bit of romance, and a hint of mystery thrown in, so lets go with a mysterious historical romance.

I'm a huge fan of of dual timelines and this one definitely didn't disappoint. As two stories run side by side, one in the 1890's and one in the 1920's we are introduced to the legacy of Halesham Hall and all it's mysterious and odd corners, it's dark history as well as a world full of puzzles and games hidden within it's walls.

When young Phoebe comes knocking on the door of Halesham Hall just as a storm is approaching she is ready to face Mr Bellingham, the uncle she has never met. Seemingly hoping to forge a bond with the only family she now has left after the death of parents, Phoebe knows this will be no easy task given her father and Uncle fell out years earlier..

Refusing to be part of whatever scheme he believes Phoebe is plotting, Bellingham refuses to acknowledge her existence and despite the weather, orders her out of the house, never to return. Thankfully his housekeeper Mrs Murray witnesses the altercation and unbeknown to her Master, she allows the young girl to seek shelter and wait out the storm.

And so starts a truly wonderful story, full of intrigue as all the secrets of Halesham Hall start to unfold. An evil almost psychotic old man, a young wife forced to flee in the middle of the night, two young bothers forever at war with each other and a house with so many secrets to spill.

I couldn't put this down. A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this one.

this was such an interesting book! i am so thankful to netgalley for letting me read this one early! such an amazing plot and characters!! blew me away!!!

A dual time story this time – something I always enjoy – but one with a real difference. There’s no contemporary storyline, and the book’s present day is the 1920s, as Phoebe arrives at Halesham Hall, owned by her uncle, after the tragic loss of her parents. But she’s not looking for consolation and a place in the bosom of the family – she has a thirst for revenge over her father’s treatment, and hopes for the opportunity to reclaim her rightful inheritance. And it’s perhaps just as well that she’s not expecting a warm welcome – she’s reluctantly allowed to stay, but only if she takes work as a servant in a household that faces more than the usual challenges.

And then there’s the earlier storyline – the 1890s, and the story of two brothers forced to compete for their inheritance by their bully of a father who runs a board games empire. His cruelty has already seen his wife disappear into the night – witnessed by young Sidney – and he then pits the brothers against each other with a series of mind games and conundrums, the penalty for loss being an insecure future. But the brothers are in competition for more than their inheritance – they both love the same woman, one of them particularly obsessively, and only one can win the prize. Both father and son have their reasons for believing that women can’t be trusted – father Clement’s abandonment drove him to make life as difficult as he could for his house’s female servants through a series of alterations to its fabric (uneven stairs, listening devices, dizzying shifts in perspective, disturbing murals), while the house’s winning incumbent is driven only by bitterness and disappointment.

I found this book totally unputdownable, its twists and turns every bit as fascinating as the house’s many idiosyncrasies – the characterisation is excellent throughout, but the house itself is a constant enigma too and very much a character in its own right. The identity of the winning brother is slowly revealed – there’s a nice ambiguity early in the story, slowly disentangled – and Phoebe finds herself engaged in the same challenges that decided the inheritance in an attempt to find the house’s missing deeds and establish her own claim. And it’s so very cleverly done, the storylines mirroring each other, the reader sometimes a few steps ahead with an urge to shout “look at the stairs”.

The author’s emotional touch throughout is just perfect – although his later behaviour might leave something to be desired at times, little Sidney is never anything other than a sympathetic character who you can’t help but feel sorry for and want to cuddle. In the 1920s though… but I really must let you discover the full story for yourself, as I particularly loved the experience of being led through the story with so many surprises along the way. And there’s a good helping of romance to the book too, very well handled – veering towards obsession in the earlier story, unexpected but welcome (and entirely convincing) elsewhere. And the book’s focus on the themes around family and belonging were superbly done too, woven into a compelling story.

I really loved this one – not at all what I was expecting, but the product of a wonderful imagination and a fascinating story quite superbly told. Highly recommended by me.

(Review copied to Amazon UK, but link not yet available)

I expected this story to be like the classic Westing Game (Ellen Raskin) or possibly my favorite Dickens, Great Expectations. I recently read and enjoyed the Inheritance Games trilogy (Jennifer Lynn Barnes), and the premise of this book seemed like a good comparison to those books too.

It's not that Halesham Hall isn't like those stories. In an odd way, it's like all three.

It's like if Avery (from Inheritance Games) discovered a deeper, more sinister connection to Sam Westing (the titular wealthy character in Westing Game). And then took a deep dive back in time to Magwitch & Havisham and secret agendas backed with physical and emotional anguish.

That's about what you get in Halesham Hall. A legacy of broken dreams, promised wealth, and secrets that have secrets.

"I was fully aware, however, that Leonard had no interest in our family empire and only played the games out of a sense of duty." (25) I really liked Sidney and the older storyline. Phoebe wasn't exactly my thing. (But I liked the dog.)

"Was it her imagination? Or did he look somewhat forlorn at the possibility he'd been played too?" (299)

All said, this was an interesting story, and I think most historical fiction readers will enjoy it.

Brilliant writing and more importantly, riveting reading.This was a brilliant read. Set aside plenty of time to read in without a workday.

Whenever I see a book with a beautiful cover and the word 'HALL' in the title it is a sure bet that I will want to investigate further. This is likely a throwback to my adolescent reading days filled with gothic suspense fiction.

This is my first time reading the work of Jenni Keer and it was an enjoyable experience. Yes it was an historical romance, but it was so much more. It was a novel of puzzles, wrapped up in riddles. The setting, a quirky old Suffolk manor house, was the central character of the novel which spanned two time periods.

The Bellingham family who owned Halesham Hall were plagued with unhappiness. The patriarch of the family was a malicious, tyrannical, and bitter man who liked nothing better than to impose cruelty on others. He was the founding father of the highly successful Bellingham Board Games empire and played games with his family. Sometimes they were cruel mind-games, and sometimes they were riddles embedded within the walls of the manor. When his cruelty became too much for his beautiful wife, she fled the manor and left her two sons behind. Thus, the story of the two sons, and how they were manipulated and maliciously treated by their father, spurs the story onward.

The sons, vastly different in temperament, experience, and age, reacted to their father's machinations in dissimilar ways. They were pitted against each other for the right to inheritance. Also, more importantly, they fell in love with the same woman.

This historical romance contains themes of revenge, obsessive love, social class disparities, family secrets, and the effect that a cold and unloving parent can have upon the lives of children.

I recommend this novel to readers who enjoy historical romances with atmospheric settings. It helps if you appreciate gothic vibes and delight in puzzling riddles.

A Dual Timeline Full of Mystery and Intrigue

Have you ever considered the legacy you will leave behind? Has it ever occurred to you that your life and how you live it may impact those in that come after you?

In this fabulous dual timeline, Jenni Keer creates a story that tugs at the heartstrings while unravelling the threads of secrets from the past.

Told as a story of two halves, cast within a house that holds a strong character and secrets of its own.

In the 1890's, the Bellingham family have fallen apart. One summer will change everything for this family in turmoil. Clement Bellingham is a nasty man, with a fiery temper. When his wife finally leaves him, his two sons are left behind to deal with the cruelty their father dishes out. With his wife now gone, Clement pits the boys against each other and raises them to have a deep mistrust of women. Despite being the owner of the board game company, Bellingham Games, this will not be the only legacy Clement will leave behind. His actions will trickle down through the generations.

Years later, in the 1920's, the daughter of one of the sons has returned to Halesham Hall, the death of her parents see her return to fight for the legacy of her own father, but returning to the house sees her face her uncle. A bitter and twisted old man still living with the ghosts of his past.

About the Author:
Jenni Keer is a history graduate who embarked on a career in contract flooring before settling in the middle of the Suffolk countryside with her antique furniture restorer husband. She has valiantly attempted to master the ancient art of housework but with four teenage boys in the house it remains a mystery. Instead, she spends her time at the keyboard writing commercial women's fiction to combat the testosterone-fuelled atmosphere, with her number one fan #Blindcat by her side. Much younger in her head than she is on paper, she adores any excuse for fancy-dress and is part of a disco formation dance team.

This is an easy book to love, but not an easy book to put down.

Jenni Keer has a real talent when it comes to creating amazing characters on the page, and although the Phoebe and Sidney really do draw you in, so too does the character that is built within Halesham Hall itself. Jenni is so very accomplished when it comes to weaving this amazing story through two timelines with beautiful and historical details threaded throughout the pages like fine gold thread, making the pages and the characters sparkle.

Secrets never stay buried for long, and the twists and turns will keep your head spinning, with puzzles to solve and mysteries to unlock.

Jenni is a master of description, and I turned the last page, desperate to one day visit Halesham Hall myself and walk the corridors that live true in my mind.

I put this book down with a slightly heavy heart, full with love but a question lingering behind. What legacy we will leave behind for our own families? How are we shaping the futures of our own children with the actions we choose today?

In my opinion, it is the mark of a truly remarkable author when a book that leaves you thinking about the true core theme of the novel, long after you have finished the book.

The Legacy of Halesham Hall is not the first of Jenni's books I have read, The Secrets of Hawthorn Place was just as magical - however, I can honestly say that Jenni consistently raises the bar, and this is by far my favourite of all her novels to date. I very much look forward, in anticipation, for her next book.

I love a good gothic-tinged mystery, and this was a creative and unusual one. In the 1890s, a strict and cruel owner of a very successful board games company goes off the rails after his wife leaves him. He renovates and redesigns the interior of Halesham Hall to be confusing, strange and creepy. He pits his two sons, Sidney and Leonard, against each other. They must solve clues in order to inherit the company and/or the house. Sidney solves the clues to inherit the house and Leonard is disinherited. Sidney has not found the deed to the house but can leave there until it is found. In 1920, after her parents die, Leonard's daughter Phoebe arrives at Halesham Hall to solve the puzzles and claim the inheritance. She is employed to work in the house and her positive, sunny outlook brightens things as she attempts to solve the puzzles to find the deed. I liked the dual timelines and the house setting as well as the puzzles and clues. I wasn't a big fan of the romance aspect of the novel.

The blurb
1890. One summer evening changes everything for Sidney and Leonard Bellingham when their beloved mother disappears from the family home, Halesham Hall. Left with their bitter father, they are taught to trust no one but themselves, with brother pitted against brother to see who is worthy of inheriting the Bellingham Board Games company. But the series of twisted games they are forced to play will have far reaching consequences.

1920. Phoebe Bellingham arrives at Halesham Hall determined to solve the puzzles that will allow her to claim back the Bellingham inheritance. But this legacy involves more than one secret, and soon Phoebe realises that the stakes are higher than she ever could have imagined.
Told in dual timelines, Sidney's actions in the 1890s as a child and young man, and Phoebe's in the present day with a much older Sidney in residence at Halesham Hall, a bitter and sour man. Sidney's father Clement was a clever man who devised many of his company's best selling games and rather than allowing his eldest son to inherit the Hall and the company, he made the Hall into a giant cryptic game hiding the deeds to the Hall. Whoever of his sons solved the clues first would inherit the company, but the person who found the deeds would inherit the Hall, although the son who inherited the company could live in the Hall until the deeds were found. Sidney solved the puzzle but never found the deeds, his brother Leonard was disinherited.

Twenty -one years later, Phoebe, Leonard's daughter comes to the Hall determined to avenge her father and wrest the Hall away from Sidney, even if it means she must work as a servant in the Hall.

I liked the premise of this book, but I had read something similar in a Lord Peter Wimsey short story, The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will in Lord Peter Views the Body. Also, the dual timelines just meant that I had to read the same clues being solved twice. All-in-all I found the book a bit of a slog TBH and it was only the plethora of four and five star reviews that kept me reading to the end. I found the plot a bit predictable and heavily signalled so that I was entirely unsurprised by the ending.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

A fabulous page turner!

A cleverly written mystery!

Phoebe arrives at Halesham Hall to announce that she is the master's niece and has come to try and solve Halesham Hall's puzzles to inherit the Bellingham family fortune.

So many twists and turns that most every assumption I made was proven wrong. Keer's writing keeps the reader on their toes and allows you to continuously change your opinion of characters virtues the further you go in the story. As with any good puzzle, what seems up is actually down and vice versa.

A house built around game themes- sign me up! I'd live there.

All types of relationships are explored within this story - parent to child, master to staff, husband to wife and the wealthy to paupers.

I loved this story and the maze that it took me through!

Very unique and deserving of 5 stars!

The Legacy of Halesham Hall is the second book I have read from Jenni Keer. I love the duality of a family drama and a mystery.

The Legacy of Halesham Hall is the story of a the Bellingham’s and takes place in two times, the late 1800’s and 1920. The Belligham’s are a new rich family that own a gaming company, Bellingham Board Games and have a Gothic style house. In the 1890’s we have the sons, Leaonard and Sidney and their mother and father. One evening Sidney observes his mother sneaking away into the night to never be seen again, his distant father Clement becomes embittered and cruel. He starts to pit his sons agaisnt each other. The boys grow up and have a bitter falling out. One inherits everything the other is left to make his own way in the world.

In 1920 Phoebe comes to the house to see her uncle after the deaths of her parents. He is less than welcoming. Phoebe appears to want a rapprochement with her uncle, but is that her true motive? The house is a puzzle within itself and whomever sovles the puzzle inherits the Bellington riches.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns and the dual times. I look forward to the next book by Ms. Keer

Thanks to Netgalley, Headline Publishers and the author for the chance to read and review this book.

This is one of my favourite genres and this book made me love it a bit more. Very cleverly written, novel plot and intersting turns on every corner keep the reader's attention rapt right through till the end. Would ve checking out the other works by the author definitely after this one!

“The Legacy of Halesham Hall” is a delightful literary treasure hunt, full of secrets, riddles and trickery stretching over 20 years at the turn of the twentieth century.
A strict and cruel family patriarch and prominent proprietor of a successful boardgames business, Clement Ballingham pits his two sons against each other in a real-life game for superiority and the legacy of his thriving business and the family residence of Halesham Hall (a gothic edifice of curious architectonic design, riddled with traps, staircases leading to nowhere and horrific murals depicting female infidelity). Clement hates women because his wife abandoned him and his two sons. Clement transfers his resentment onto them. When Clement dies one of his sons takes it all while the other is banished. Twenty years later, Phoebe (the heir’s niece) arrives on Halesham Hall’s doorstep. She too has a game to play – or rather, a mission.
As the story unfolds, alternating between 1899 and 1920, the family secrets are gradually revealed and the background of their motives, misconceptions and errors of judgment is aptly painted, layer by revelatory layer. Jenni Keer’s prose is unintrusive and carries the story forward while holding the reader’s attention right to the very last revelation that finally puts the past to rest and paves the path into a brighter, more promising future. The characters grow with the story, react and transform with it. They are alive, distinct and responsive to the puzzling challenges posed by their discoveries and to the emotional baggage attached to them.
This isn’t a one-pony book – there isn’t just one puzzle to solve. The secrets are aplenty and tightly interrelated with one another. And even the blossoming romance isn’t what you may think it to be at the start.
I chose this book as my holiday read and what an astute choice that was, if I say so myself! I was totally engrossed in the story, snatching every moment to get to another chapter, another discovery that would take me close to the resolution. I relished the hunt and the book was indeed quite a little treasure.

Today, I’m taking part on Headline Accent blog tour organised by Isabella Wilson for the Legacy of Halesham Hall by Jenni Keer. I read this historical novel as a paperback for this tour and I’m so happy that I took part on this blog tour as I really loved this women’s fiction novel.
This historical novel tells a story of a family, a peculiar and strange house, board games, an inheritance, and an abundance of lies and secrets. This novel is a fantastic read.
I read it in one sitting as I didn’t want to put it down once I started it. It was a joy to read and it held my attention and interest from the page one to the last one.
I really liked the author’s writing style, character development and finding out more about each of the main characters as the story unfolded. It is the first novel which I’ve read by the author but I’m hoping to read more in the future. I’m so happy to have discovered a new author for me whose style of writing I like.
I’m giving this novel 5 stars as I really enjoyed reading it and I’m sure other readers will love this fantastic and mysterious novel as well. I’m delighted to have been participating on this blog tour as I found this historical novel thrilling and exciting.

An enduring story of love and hope.
‘The Legacy of Halesham Hall’ is one of those novels that will stay with you for a very long time…or is that just me? I had been waiting for Ms Keer’s new novel and to say I’m not disappointed, would be to put it mildly. A dual-timeline story set just before the 19th century turned into the 20th, together with the early 1920’s, this is a masterful tale to inspire a generation in these difficult times. Love, especially in books, will find a way and the author has crafted a story of depth and beauty, crammed full of puzzles, the final of which you won’t find out the answer to until the very end.
Chock full of wonderful characters, this is a book I cannot recommend enough!