The Lodger is a historical mystery novel set in post-World War I London. We follow Grace, an aspiring reporter in her early 20s as she works to discern the truth of the death of her dear family friend and long-time lodger, Elizabeth.

The book has a cast of believable and fun characters, my favourite and a highlight of which is Miss Bunty (a cocktail and gossip loving lady that is a terrible driver). Grace is a nice heroine, and I really liked her drive and empathy. I like how the book explores grief and the everyday trials of mourning the losses of war. I was especially interested when these themes were explored through Grace and her Mother Isobel, and other women who were grieving, such as Bridget. Collective grief in a time of great change was a poignant motif in this book and I appreciated it. Though I was not really a fan of the actual mystery, the way it was slowly unraveled and told was well done, and I found it interesting how our perception of the lodger fluctuates throughout the book.

The romance in this book didn't really resonate with me, and could have been left out. The grief Grace experiences and how she processes her loss would have been enough here. The end of this novel was lacking unfortunately, it was entirely convenient and did not tie up the story or the themes explored in a satisfying way for me. I did not find the dialogue or the plot itself very believable either. The book was also missing a sense of time, and it did not feel very Edwardian in tone or through the descriptions, they were rather simple and ambiguous. The sense of atmosphere was quite strong though, and I liked the way that different areas of London were portrayed. Something about this book was missing, and I was unable to really connect with it unfortunately.

Thank you to Quercus and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Lodger is the first book I've read from Helen Scarlett.

While I enjoyed the plot and characters, I felt like it was missing something fundamental.

For me, that thing was the historic element. The book is set in the years following the first World War. While there were various mentions of this throughout, the book needed more context and descriptions. For example, clothing, buildings and attitudes of the time. In its current state, it felt like it could have been a plot in any point of time.

The plot went through a bell graph, peaking in pace around the middle. Historic books do tend to be on the slower side, but still, the ending felt like it fizzled out.

I'm sad to not be able to give this a higher rating but it just wasn't up there for me.

It’s 1919 and Grace Armstrong, like many other young women, is mourning the loss of her fiancé and brother in the Great War. She has done her best to move on – having served as a VAD nurse during the war, she is now pursuing a career as a journalist with the London periodical Nursing World – but she is still haunted by the thought that her fiancé Robert, reported Missing in Action at the Somme, could still be alive. Meanwhile her mother, struggling to cope with the death of Grace’s brother Edward, is under sedation in a nursing home. It’s a difficult time for the Armstrong family – and is about to get worse when their lodger, Elizabeth Smith, is found drowned in the River Thames.

Elizabeth had lodged with the family for eight years and she and Grace had become good friends. Unable to accept the verdict from the police that Elizabeth had committed suicide, Grace is determined to find out what really happened. The only person who is prepared to help her is Tom Monaghan, who fought with Edward in France, but as they begin to investigate Elizabeth’s death, they make some shocking discoveries about Grace’s friend.

This is Helen Scarlett’s second novel; I haven’t read her first, The Deception of Harriet Fleet, but both are standalones so that didn’t matter at all. I will probably look for that earlier book now, as I did enjoy this one. It’s a slow-paced novel, but I still found it quite gripping, mainly because of the vivid portrayal of a world emerging from war, with people attempting to move forward while still struggling with the trauma of the recent past. Nobody in the novel has come out of the war unscathed; we meet men left damaged both physically and mentally by the horrors of the trenches, families grieving for the deaths of loved ones – and perhaps worst of all, people like Grace who are unable to grieve properly without knowing whether their loved one is dead or alive. Grace sees Robert everywhere – in the street, on the bus, in her dreams – and feels that she’ll never be able to rebuild her life until she knows the truth.

I found the mystery element of the book less successful. The story of Elizabeth’s past seemed too far-fetched to be very convincing and as more and more of her secrets were uncovered I felt that the plot was in danger of becoming much too complicated. There’s also a romance for Grace which was predictable but satisfying, although I would have liked to have seen her spend more time with her love interest; that would have helped me to become more invested in their relationship.

Despite the few negative points I’ve mentioned, The Lodger is an atmospheric and moving novel and the image it evokes of a London in the aftermath of war is one that will stay with me.

Set in London in 1919, the story follows Grace who has lost both her brother and her fiancé in World War I. Grace suffers another loss when the body of her friend and lodger, Elizabeth, is discovered in the Thames. Grace then sets out to find the Elizabeth’s family, leading her into a mystery.

I was interested in the premise of this novel, particularly the post-WWI setting, and felt the that the portrayal of a London haunted by the losses of the war was well done and evocative. The mystery itself was well paced and fairly intriguing, but I didn’t find myself invested in the characters which led to things falling a little flat for me.

I really enjoyed this historical novel set in 1919 London. A mystery is set up from the prologue when the body of a woman in a blue coat is found near London bridge. Grace Armstrong is a young woman who lost both her brother and fiancé in the war. She lives with her father at the family home Ryedale Villa, her mother is in a hospital with depression after the death of her son. After seeing the report in the newspaper about the body, it’s feared that it may be their former lodger, Elizabeth Smith who had moved out only two weeks before after living there for eight years. Grace starts looking into Elizabeth’s life (she can’t believe it was suicide) and there’s much more than she expected.There were so many twist and turns and the ghosts and depiction of grief added real weight to the story. Elizabeth was a total mystery and I didn’t see the ending coming. I highly recommend this.
I was given an ARC of this book by NetGalley, all views are my own.

I enjoyed the setting of this book, the characters and the mystery of who the lodger was.
It was in fact a pleasant read.
There was enough going on to keep the plot moving along nicely.
The romance aspect felt a bit quick, and very predictable.
The post war setting of the book added an extra layer to the story, as every character, even minor ones now has a story to tell.
Enjoyable.