Author: Iona Grey

Iona Grey has a degree in English Literature and Language from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She lives in the rural North West of England with her husband and three daughters. She is the award-winning author of Letters to the Lost, and her new book The Glittering Hour is on sale October 17 2019 (UK) and December 10, 2019 (US).

#BookReview The Housekeeper’s Secret by Iona Grey @iona_grey @StMartinsPress #TheHousekeepersSecret #IonaGrey #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

categories: 8/10, Book Review, Historical Fiction
#BookReview The Housekeeper’s Secret by Iona Grey @iona_grey @StMartinsPress #TheHousekeepersSecret #IonaGrey #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Housekeeper's Secret

Author: Iona Grey

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 13, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Duty, desire, and deception reside under one roof.

Standing in the remote windswept moors of Northern England, Coldwell Hall is the perfect place to hide. For the past five years, Kate Furniss has maintained her professional mask so carefully that she almost believes she is the character she has created: Coldwell’s respectable housekeeper.

It is the summer of 1911 that brings new faces above and below the stairs of Coldwell Hall―including the handsome and mysterious new footman, Jem Arden. Just as the house’s shuttered rooms open, so does Kate’s guarded heart to a love affair that is as intense as it is forbidden. But Kate can feel her control slipping as Jem harbors secrets of his own.

Told in alternating timelines from the last sun-drenched summer of the Edwardian Age to the mud-filled trenches of WWI, The Housekeeper’s Secret opens its door to a world of romance, the truths we hold onto, and the past we must let go.

Review:

Compelling, intense, and absorbing!

The Housekeeper’s Secret is a passionate, captivating tale set in England during the early 1900s that takes you into the life of Kate Furniss, a young housekeeper who, after fleeing an abusive husband and changing her name, finds her world turned upside down again when a handsome new footman arrives at Coldwell Hall who seems to be driven by secrets of his own. 

The prose is rich and vivid. The characters are determined, vulnerable, and brave. And the plot, told through a mixture of letters and narration, is an intriguing blend of life, loss, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, betrayal, survival, danger, grief, war, friendship, violence, and forbidden love.

Overall, The Housekeeper’s Secret is an insightful, enticing, atmospheric tale by Grey that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, lives, and personalities of the characters you can’t help but be fully engrossed and completely invested throughout.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Iona Grey

Iona Grey has a degree in English Literature and Language from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She lives in the rural North West of England with her husband and three daughters. She is the award-winning author of Letters to the Lost, and her new book The Glittering Hour is on sale October 17 2019 (UK) and December 10, 2019 (US).

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#BlogTour #BookReview The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey @iona_grey @StMartinsPress #TheGlitteringHour

categories: 10/10, Book Review, Historical Fiction, Noteworthy Book Releases
#BlogTour #BookReview The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey @iona_grey @StMartinsPress #TheGlitteringHour Title: The Glittering Hour

Author: Iona Grey

Published by: Thomas Dunne Books on Dec. 10, 2019

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 480

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 10/10

An unforgettable historical about true love found and lost and the secrets we keep from one another from an award-winning author

Selina Lennox is a Bright Young Thing. Her life is a whirl of parties and drinking, pursued by the press and staying on just the right side of scandal, all while running from the life her parents would choose for her.

Lawrence Weston is a penniless painter who stumbles into Selina’s orbit one night and can never let her go even while knowing someone of her stature could never end up with someone of his. Except Selina falls hard for Lawrence, envisioning a life of true happiness. But when tragedy strikes, Selina finds herself choosing what’s safe over what’s right.

Spanning two decades and a seismic shift in British history as World War II approaches, Iona Grey’s The Glittering Hour is an epic novel of passion, heartache and loss.

Review:

Mesmerizing, enthralling, and incredibly moving!

The Glittering Hour is set in London and the English countryside during 1925, as well as 1936, and is told from two different perspectives. Selina, a young woman in her prime who often finds herself and her friends gracing the pages of the gossip rags for their outrageous behaviour and antics, and Alice Carew, Selina’s nine-year-old daughter who after being relegated to her grandparents country home while her parents are abroad embarks on a treasure hunt to discover all her mother’s secrets.

The prose is eloquent and vivid. The characters are creative, intelligent, and rebellious. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine into a sweeping saga of life, loss, family, expectations, sacrifice, self-discovery, friendship, heartbreak, romance, forbidden love, and the special bonds shared between a mother and daughter.

Overall, The Glittering Hour is a bittersweet, beautifully expressive, exceptionally affecting story by Grey that illuminates the enduring passion and power of unconditional love and reminds us that life should always be lived to the fullest. It’s immersive, vibrant, and utterly heartwrenching in spots, and is without a doubt one of my favourite reads of the year. 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or one of the following links.

                                            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Iona Grey

Iona Grey has a degree in English Literature and Language from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She lives in the rural North West of England with her husband and three daughters. She is the award-winning author of Letters to the Lost, and her new book The Glittering Hour is on sale October 17 2019 (UK) and December 10, 2019 (US).

Goodreads | Instagram