London, 1662
There was something the Winter
Queen needed to tell him. She fought for the strength to speak.
‘The crystal mirror is a
danger. It must be destroyed – ‘
He replied instantly. ‘It
will’.
Ashdown, Oxfordshire, present
day
Ben Ansell
is researching his family tree when he disappears. As his sister Holly begins a
desperate search, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to an ornate antique
mirror and to the diary of Lavinia, a 19th
century courtesan who was living at Ashdown House when it burned to the
ground over 200 years ago.
Intrigued, and determined to find
out more about the tragedy at Ashdown, Holly’s only hope is that uncovering the
truth about the past will lead her to Ben.
*******************************
I'm back reviewing and blogging after a while with a book I liked very much: House of Shadows by Nicola Cornick ( Harlequin Mira UK, 2015). It is fast paced, intriguing, well
written and thoroughly researched and it includes all the elements to make it my
“cup of coffee” (yes, I like coffee more than tea): fascinating historical eras,
beautiful English landscapes, gripping plot and, last but
not least, passionate romance.
Three
parallels narrative threads unroll in three different time settings keeping the reader hooked and, little by little, interweaving to form the
tapestry that is the solution of the initial mystery: the sudden, inexplicable
disappearance of Ben Ansell.
Nicola
Cornick’s new time-slip novel champions
three beautifully written heroines: Elizabeth
Stuart, James I’s daughter and queen of Bohemia, the 17th century "Winter
Queen” ; Lavinia Flyte, a 19th-century courtesan who wrote a memoir, and Holly Ansell, a present-day woman in distress to whom is truly easy to relate. Holly is
desperate after her brother disappears
and her long-lasting relationship with Guy wrecks.