Australian Instagram personality Miranda Courtenay has made mistakes and claims that cause a huge fall from grace. While her father, stepmother, and two younger, half sisters support her, she is embarrassed and guilty, too. When she gets a letter from a cousin in England, she jumps at the chance to visit Barnsley House where her dead mother's family still lives. When she arrives, they think she is the nanny and Miranda decides to play along with the deception.
Before moving away forever, Miranda's mother had written a book about the house and the generations of strong women who lived there. (Hence the title of this book.) Max, her mother's brother, his wife, Daphne, and Elizabeth, her mother's sister, still live there and all have secrets, too. Mysterious Mrs. Mins has a long history with the family. Who to trust there??? And, the three young children of Max and Daphne are charming. So it goes until Daphne disappears.
A little gothic mystery, a little contemporary search for self, the book is the debut novel by the author. Watch for more by Jane Cockram as this first effort reads smoothly. Typeface switches to a handwritten font when showing the pages from a found notebook. She does a good job of keeping track of time passing with summer festival time, Christmas, and finally Easter. Miranda is a likeable, if questioning, young woman who sneaks around looking for information, finding secret books, trying to hide from her own father, and putting together the pieces of the past which all too much influence the present.
Before moving away forever, Miranda's mother had written a book about the house and the generations of strong women who lived there. (Hence the title of this book.) Max, her mother's brother, his wife, Daphne, and Elizabeth, her mother's sister, still live there and all have secrets, too. Mysterious Mrs. Mins has a long history with the family. Who to trust there??? And, the three young children of Max and Daphne are charming. So it goes until Daphne disappears.
A little gothic mystery, a little contemporary search for self, the book is the debut novel by the author. Watch for more by Jane Cockram as this first effort reads smoothly. Typeface switches to a handwritten font when showing the pages from a found notebook. She does a good job of keeping track of time passing with summer festival time, Christmas, and finally Easter. Miranda is a likeable, if questioning, young woman who sneaks around looking for information, finding secret books, trying to hide from her own father, and putting together the pieces of the past which all too much influence the present.
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