A Place of Secrets

November 7, 2011
In her U.S. debut, Hore (The Glass Painter’s Daughter) painstakingly builds the foundation of a 300-year-old mystery centered around an 18th-century astronomer and the strange observation deck from which he viewed the stars. Jude Gower, a book appraiser for London’s Beecham’s Auctioneers, is contacted by an 18th-century–book enthusiast interested in selling his collection. She travels to Robert Wickham’s estate in Norfolk, coincidentally home to her grandmother and sister, to review the tomes. Once there, she begins piecing together the history of the books, which include journals by Anthony Wickham, Robert’s ancestor and an eccentric astronomer, who along with his adopted daughter, Esther, may have stumbled upon a planetary discovery. Sensing that this could increase the books’ value, Jude digs deeper into the past, and unravels a world of Gypsies, ghosts, and possible murder at the scene of Wickham’s folly—a decrepit observatory in the woods. By dredging up long-kept secrets, is she putting her family in danger, or helping prevent it? Though bogged down by details, the plot catches fire in the last third, making the payoff almost worth the patience it took to get there.

January 1, 2012
A research job in Norfolk reveals the cause of the strange dreams that have long plagued an auction-house appraiser. Although widowed Jude Gower hasn't been able to put her past behind her, her job at Beecham's Auctioneers keeps her life interesting. Her latest clients are the Wickham family of Starbrough Hall. Forced to sell an ancestor's collection to maintain the house, they ask Jude to come do an appraisal. Because her grandmother grew up in a cottage on the Starbrough estate and her sister Claire and niece Summer live nearby, she's especially pleased to accept, and she's soon made a series of surprising discoveries. She finds the collection of 18th-century astronomer Anthony Wickham both fascinating and valuable. She's attracted to Euan, a naturalist who's living in a gypsy wagon while he restores her grandmother's cottage. Most disturbingly, she realizes that her niece Summer has been having the same dream as Jude—a dream that involves the Folly, a brick building Wickham had built as an observatory. Old diaries introduce Esther, the adopted daughter who helped Wickham with his stargazing and mysteriously vanished after his death. A diamond necklace her grandmother has kept hidden for years, gypsy friends and recently unearthed papers all help Jude come to a startling conclusion. Hore's first U.S. publication is a slickly packaged combination of present-day angst and romance cleverly interwoven with historical detail.

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September 15, 2011

The recently widowed Jude hopes to overcome her grief by accepting an assignment outside of London to assess the value of a collection of scientific instruments belonging to 18th-century astronomer Anthony Wickham. She soon learns that Wickham's life has spooky links to her own, which might explain a recurring nightmare she had as a child--a nightmare now being visited upon her niece. Having sold over 100,000 copies in the UK, this book looks good for those who enjoy literary mystery with historic threads.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2012
Antiquarian book appraiser Jude Gower takes an assignment in Norfolk to evaluate the collection of eighteenth-century astronomer Anthony Wickham. Hore embellishes the tale with the familiar elements of the genrefamily secrets, a blending of romance and suspense, and, of course, the requisite family mansion, this time a slightly eerie manor house called Starbrough Hall. Jude, whose family is from Norfolk, discovers a connection between her grandmother and a gypsy girl who played in the crumbling folly tower on the Starbrough property. A frightening dream has haunted Jude for a long time, and now, with the help of the handsome artist Euan, she begins to connect the puzzle of Gran's memories, her own dreams, the gypsies, and Wickham's folly. This romantic suspenser is rescued from clich' by the story's momentum and the affectionate and compelling characters. It's compulsively readable and highly entertaining. Readers who long for the old-fashioned gothic romance of Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, and Barbara Michaels will rejoice in the U.S. debut of this popular English author, and fans of Kate Morton's The House at Riverton (2008)and Susanna Kearsley's The Winter Sea (2009) will be delighted.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)