Published By: Hutchinson Heinemann
Pages: 400
Released On: 16/05/2024
London, 1833
Doctress Hester Reeves has been offered a life-changing commission.
But it comes at a price. She must leave behind her husband and their canal-side home in Kings Cross and move to Tall Trees – a dark and foreboding house in Fitzrovia.
If Hester can cure the ailing health of its owner, Gervaise Cherville, she will receive payment that will bring her everything she could dream of.
But on arriving at Tall Trees, Hester quickly discovers that an even bigger task awaits her. Now she must unearth secrets that have lain hidden for decades – including one that will leave Hester’s own life forever changed…
*****
Thanks to Alice Dewing, Senior Publicity Manager, for the gifted proof of this title in return for an honest review.
I do love a good historical story about a woman in a big manor house with secretive staff and a hoity-toity owner. I’ve read a lot and I haven’t come across one I haven’t enjoyed. There’s something so magically nostalgic about them and I find them so gripping.
Lianne has masterfully created such a habitable world. It’s not always a good one or a pleasant one, but you can see it, you can feel it. The description of the walls in the house, the chill of the pantry, the smells in the kitchen, the lushness of the garden out front. It’s all there so wonderfully depicted that you could become a character yourself.
I know we don’t judge books by their covers (we totally do), but this cover was beautiful. Simple but striking.
It is a historical novel mostly, but it’s thrilling, with a bit of romance, a bit of mystery and intrigue. I was expecting a bit more of the gothic nature that the cover and synopsis suggested. This doesn’t make what’s there bad, no, what’s there is very enjoyable indeed. But there were times I wanted just a smidgen more darkness, and more twists and turns. But that’s literally the only negative point I have. It’s a well accomplished piece of writing, great characterisation, and an interesting plot.
It is more character than plot, which is a plus for me. The plot is fine, but I actually found more interest, more intrigue, more secrets through getting to know the characters and how they interact with each other than what they were actually doing. I also felt the house became a character in itself, which is what I want from a book of this genre.
There aren’t many characters, or not many that I felt were key players, but I’ll mention a few important ones here. We obviously have Hester who was a very intriguing main character and I really adored her and felt she carried the story well. We also have Jenny, the kitchen maid, young, trustworthy, and someone Hester could be honest with. Margaret, the housekeeper, who is brash and rude and almost acts like she is on the same level as the family she serves rather than the rest of the staff. And then you have Gervaise Cherville himself. At first I was mixed, he was clearly unwell and so I felt empathy towards him, but he was a bit rude, but there was a complexity within him and he ended up being far more interesting than I thought he would be. And finally we have Rowland, Gervaise’s son. He wasn’t in it much, more so towards the end, but he was very slimy, very cocksure, and I really didn’t like him, but he was very well written.
To read a book about a black female doctor in the early 1800s…I mean, I don’t know much about the period but I assume there weren’t many female doctors, or black doctors, so to have a black female doctor, it had this importance that carried through the story that I’m not sure would have been achieved if it had been a white female or a black male.
It’s extremely easy to read. Some historical novels are so bogged down in information and detail that it can feel a slog to get through. But Lianne has managed it. I acknowledge I am a quick reader, but I picked it up between work tasks and before I knew it I was 100 pages in. It flows well off the page, in terms of the actual words used and sentence structure, but also the characterisation and the plot. It has relatively short chapters which I enjoyed. I read it all in less than 24 hours, it was so addictive.
I will be absolutely honest here and say Lianne’s previous book, Theatre of Marvels, wasn’t for me. I know I’m in the minority here and that’s fine. But even then I could see that she was a very talented writer and I was keen to see what else she created. Even though it wasn’t for me, I did recommend it to others though as objectively I can say it was a well written book, but just not to my tastes. But this proof has been sat on my shelf since November 2023 that I couldn’t resist any longer.
This book has proved my reasoning for trying another book of hers. Don’t write authors off just because you didn’t like one of their books, because you might just be missing out on a gem.
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