I want to start by saying I loved this book. It was a wonderful journey through time as you see the inhabitants of a British country estate over the course of 150 years. It is beautifully written. The characters are well drawn. The interactions between characters over the years is wonderful. The plot is tight and I loved the various surprises, including the mysterious location of the priceless blue stone.
I have not read any Kate Morton books before. I met her at a book festival and this book seemed intriguing. Lots of people gave it bad reviews saying it is too long, with too many characters, and therefore too confusing. I totally disagree.
The story is told from various points of view across time, primarily from the ghost who haunts the manor. Her story is the thread which connects all of the other stories. She is the Clockmaker’s Daughter, Lily, taken in by con artists as a child and raised to be one. She grows up to be a beauty who becomes the muse of an up and coming artist (in the 1860’s). In present day, the story follows an archivist who discovers mementos from back then and tries to solve the mystery of their origin. In between, you have the artist’s sister, a family displaced during WWII, a researcher looking to document the artist’s life, a young girl from India dumped at a girl’s boarding school, a renowned celloist, and a former police detective hired to find the missing blue stone.
There are some parallel story lines across the ages – the most prominent being broken marriage engagements and tragic deaths of family members. There is also the importance of random encounters and how they can change your life. This is a story that highlights class distinctions, tragic loss, true love, gender inequality (especially in education), family, and the magic of storytelling.
