Amanda Geard

Three timelines: 1939, 1975 and 2004. Each linked by the secrets of the past. Grace Grey leaves her home in London just before the outbreak of World War II to stay with her uncle in Tasmania. A sickly sort of girl, she finds she's brought out of herself by Daniel, a young Irishman that she meets at Towerhurst, her uncle's unusual home. In 1975 Ben and Willow Andrews inherit Towerhurst and Ben feels a need to uncover the reasons why. In 2004, Libby, Ben and Willow's daughter, leaves Tasmania show more to travel to London searching for answers about her father's death and what he was looking into before he died.

A long-forgotten satchel and its contents captured my imagination from the very beginning of this book and I was utterly mesmerised until I turned the final page. The three very distinct timelines felt as though they were slotted together effortlessly and yet I know that to intertwine them so completely perfectly must have taken Amanda Geard a long time and a lot of planning to get right - and just to confirm, she absolutely got it right.

This is a book that is very intricately plotted and as such it sometimes meant spending a little longer absorbing the detail. It shouldn't be rushed and it's well worth the extra time to become fully immersed in the plot. It's a lengthy read at just over 500 pages but a part of me wanted it to go on forever. I read a lot of books with more than one timeline and I invariably enjoy them, but The Moon Gate gave me a bit extra, it gave me a mystery that unfolded gradually with some lightbulb moments where I had to turn back to see how it all slotted together. I love a book that's like a complex jigsaw puzzle which isn't just handed to me already semi-completed. I also particularly enjoyed the amazing ballads that form links between the timelines.

The Moon Gate is a stunning piece of historical fiction. In the last third or so every chapter seems to end with a cliff-hanger or an unanswered question which made me exclaim out loud but then I'd turn the page and be once again engrossed in one of the other timelines. I could write so much about this book but all you really need to know is that if you love an involving, moving and beautifully written historical family drama full of intrigue which pulls together threads that you can't even imagine can be connected then this is the book for you. It will be one of my favourites of this year. show less

My imagination was immediately captured by the inky image of a lake and a house beyond it on the cover of The Midnight House. I started to wonder what secrets it could hold. Well, quite a few as it happens. This is a triple timeframe story with family intrigue from 1940 and 1958 rippling down into the present day storyline in 2019.

Ellie Fitzgerald is running away from a scandal in Dublin in 2019 and she retreats to her family farm in Ballinn, County Kerry. There, a letter found between the show more pages of a book lead her to investigate the disappearance of Lady Charlotte Rathmore in 1940 from the grounds of nearby Blackwater Hall.

This is exactly my kind of book. As is usual, initially I was most interested in the storyline in 2019, and I was fascinated and enthralled by the digging that Ellie does into the past and the way that it was revealed. But, as the story progressed, I found myself becoming just as engrossed in the other two strands, set in the past, and I found it was like I was putting together a jigsaw, with it all starting to make sense as more pieces were gathered. I loved that sense of collecting and collating memories and facts to build a picture of the past.

There's a family tree at the beginning. I was excited by this and envisaged lots of turning back to see who everybody was. In fact, I didn't need to do that. Ok, there weren't a huge amount of people to keep track of but I think it was more because the characters were so beautifully portrayed and realistic. I was totally invested in their lives, both the main players and also the more minor characters, such as the owner of the little coffee shop that Ellie frequents.

If, like me, you're a Kate Morton fan waiting for her to write her next book then look no further than The Midnight House. Amanda Geard has written a captivating debut encompassing a mystery which unfolds between the covers, family secrets and female friendship in a spellbinding setting. I absolutely loved it. show less

The story of Blackwater Hall aka Midnight House surrounds the Rathmore family and the disappearance/death of Lady Charlotte Rathmore in 1940. The tale is told in three time periods - 1940, 1958 when another mysterious death occurs and 2019 when a disgraced journalist finds a letter from 1940 that sets her on a path of discovery.

I normally don't like books that jump from one period of time to another - it's too difficult to keep track of where you are - but this one was different. I always show more seemed to know which characters were involved for the aspect of continuing the story. The beginning was a bit slow or I would have given it a higher rating. The characters progressed in growth throughout the story and the ending was phenomenal. show less