I struggled with the rating for this book. For most of it, I was utterly caught up, reading it in one night, and staying up too late to finish. I felt let down by the ending. I think it starts falling apart at the point, less than halfway through the book, where Maddie tells Anna what she wasn't asked and didn't say at the trial (p.99). This would have been a natural seque into the Big Secret, revealed on pp.217-218; for that matter, it seems a bit odd that Anna doesn't inquire into the significance of the remark, unless she can't get a word in edgewise. Now that I'm finished, there are things that bother me that didn't when I was caught up in the story.

There are two main narrators. One is Maddie McGlade, once a servant to to Ormond family beginning in the 1890s, culminating as nanny for Anna, the granddaughter of the other narrator, Harriet Ormond. In September 1968, Maddie is 90-years-old, and again living in Ormond's house, now converted into a nursing home. During Anna's visits, she is recounting stories revolving around Harriet that she thinks Anna should know. Maddie wanted to tell it earlier, but Anna said she wasn't ready. One wonders if afterwards, Anna is glad to have learned the story or not.

Harriet Ormond's story in contained in her prison diary -- she spends a year in prison after her 4-year-old daughter, Charlotte, dies in the course of one of her mother's severe punishments. It's a bit muddled as to what actually happened -- the author gives two slightly different descriptions -- and where on earth did she find such enormously long stockings! Was her husband 9-feet tall? Harriet has eight children, a ninth, Anna's mother Florence, is born in prison. Harriet's unwilling attachment to her children, whom she may love but doesn't like, apparently causes her disastrous attempts to be a hands-on mother. Everyone would have been better off if Harriet had left her children to be raised by nannies, governesses, and tutors, or her unmarried sister Julia, and spent more time on her favorite pursuits.

This skims on the edge of one of my least favorite genres: "I have something important to tell you, that could be explained in a chapter at most, but first I'm going to tell you my entire life's story." At least it wasn't almost 700 pages long, like the book that made me realize how much I hate this story-telling format. The writing is good enough to make the digressions worthwhile and the period details enriched the story for me. I thought the Big Secret was a bit contrived, though I understand the point that the author was trying to make. The glass of water might have made a difference, but maybe not. The story ends in a flurry of platitudes, which I found disappointing. Somehow, Harriet's life doesn't seem like much of an argument for embracing one's darkness, any more than Darth Vader's. In the end, I can find her pitiable, but not sympathetic, nor do I think she didn't deserve what she got, but the complicated and vexing questions of responsibility and free will may haunt us forever. ( )

Harriet is married into a well-established Anglo-Irish family and lives on an estate called Oranmore in the north. Originally with Scottish heritage Harriet enjoys the freedom of riding to hounds and her obsession is her butterfly collection. Brought up in a rigid and controlled household, Harriet believes that children must be punished so that they learn how to behave, however one day Harriet's punishment of her only daughter, Charlotte, goes wrong and Charlotte dies. Harriet is convicted and sentenced to jail where she writes her diary. Maddie is a junior housemaid at Oranmore and she sees the events as they unfold but Maddie has her own problems. Finally at the end of her life Maddie returns to Oranmore, now a retirement home, and she writes letters to her grand-daughter Anna - a link between both families.

This book is based on true events but the characters are fictionalised and therefore although there is some licence, the story reads well. I started off finding this book incredibly hard to get into, Harriet is not a likeable character and Maddie is nondescript, but as time went on the book started to make more sense. Agains the backdrop of the death of Charlotte, a vivd picture is drawn of life in pre-partition Ireland. The politics are played lightly but are obvious and the differences in the background and life of Harriet and Maddie are highlighted but not made the focus. In fact by the end of the book I was really enjoying the tale and felt a degree of sympathy for both characters - victims of their background and upbringing in a changing society. ( )

The story of two women, one--the mistress, the other--the servant, and the choices they make and how it affects both their histories.
The diary entry of the one in prison reflects a non-emotional woman who finds some resolution to the death of her child by writing about it.
The contrasting story line of the servant appears to love the child more than the mother, yet holds a mystery of her own.

The plot is slow. Definitely providing a thorough search of feelings and reactions.
Gave me a creepy feeling as I learned more about the mother. Hated to read, but had to.
I put the book down for awhile before starting again. Glad I finished it...although slow going for too long. ( )

If you can plow, enjoy hard slogging, and aren't bored by a flat one-note tone when you read a book, then this one's for you. I know, it's all my fault, but I just didn't care about either of the novel's two voices -- master or servant -- the main characters who inhabit the novel but undergo no particular character development.

There's the genre's requisite Big Secret, which is the whole point of the story. No surprise here. Getting to its revelation was too tedious for me to give the book more than a skim and a scan after the first 50pp. Far too much telling and too little showing in this one. I'm no great fan of Gothic psycho-dramas, and this book reminded me why not. ( )

A good historical novel set in Ireland of the mid 1800s and late 1960s narrated by two fascinating ladies...one the mistress of a grand estate and the other her servant. Since the author is Irish she might assume her readers are familiar with Irish history. I could have used a bit more explanation of some of the events talked about in the novel. Based on a true story. ( )