The House of Lost Secrets by Anstey Harris

 

The premise that we really do not know a person very well, however deep the friendship or relationship is, is epitomised in this story.

Jo thought she knew the Willoughby family very well. Rachel was her soul mate from childhood, sharing intimacies of family, loves and hates and everything in between. Turning up at Clachan to hear what Rachel specifically wanted to tell her was something Jo was looking forward to, with curiosity and trepidation.  She never thought she will find Rachel dead, and her secret that she wanted to share in a series of letters to and from Jo’s mother going back years. More would be spoilers.

Dealing with the frailties of human nature is hard, but where do you start when the person is dead. The story will resonate with many. We discover information hard to digest, both good and bad after a person is gone and it is not an easy task to move on. This was the story of Jo who had to do it all alone, for the first time in her life. And she found the going tough.

Getting her act together, moving forward, coming to terms with what couldn’t be unsaid or undone, forgiven or forgotten is hard.

An excellent read. Tense and emotional.

Sent by Lake Union Publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.