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Loading... The Dream House (1997)by Rachel Hore
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) MariaGreene | Jun 30, 2021 |   )1  Andrew-theQM | Jun 20, 2016 | Kate is finding her London job tiring, and worried that she spends too little time with her children. So when her husband Simon persuades her that they should sell their house, and buy somewhere bigger in the country, she is happy to do so. They stay at first with Simon's mother Joyce, and things seem to be going well... until Simon starts behaving strangely, and it's clear that there are problems afoot. Meanwhile Kate has a strange dream after buying a locket in a second-hand shop. Then she meets Agnes, a delightful old lady, and begins to explore the past through her eyes. A family tree at the start of the book means that some of the unexpected revelations in the book were not in fact surprises; others, later on, were fairly predictable. It took me a few days to get into the book, but I found the characters - particularly Kate - very believable and by the end found it hard to put down. There was a little too much use of coincidence, but it somehow seemed believable. Overall, very enjoyable. Recommended to anyone who enjoys women's saga type fiction. ( ) SueinCyprus | Jan 26, 2016 | I had been looking forward to reading this, especially as the author was coming to our annual literary festival. Unfortunately I found it rather disappointing and full of coincidences and premonitions that just didn't ring true. Kate and Simon are finding the 'rat race' of London exhausting. They never see each other and have no spare time to devote to their children. After much heart searching, they decide to move to rural Suffolk and into the village where Simon's mother lives. In fact, while they are house hunting, they move in with Simon's mother. When this temporary arrangement starts to become more long term and Simon seems to have lost interest in the search, Kate begins to feel that things are going wrong. She has given up her job, home and friends in London while Simon is still commuting weekly, ostensibly until he can find a job nearer to their new home. An old ramshakle house piques Kate's interest. It is owned by Agnes, an elderly lady with an interesting past, who becomes firm friends with Kate. Agnes's handyman, Dan, and great nephew, Max, also enter the fray to complicate matters. Some well drawn characters, but a bit long, with rather a predictable ending. As it turned out, when the author came to our festival, it was to lead a couple of workshops on creative writing (Hmmm), so I didn't get to hear the background behind the book as I had hoped. Oh well, you can't win them all :) (  ) DubaiReader | Apr 1, 2010 |  annenz | Jun 11, 2009 | no reviews | add a review
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From the bestselling author of A Week in Paris, and the Richard & Judy Bookclub pick A Place of Secrets, comes a gripping and moving story about one woman's move to the house of her dreams. Everyone has a dream of their perfect house - in the heart of the countryside, or perhaps a stately residence in the middle of a wonderful city? For Kate Hutchinson, the move to Suffolk from the tiny, noisy London terrace she shares with her husband Simon and their two young children was almost enough to make her dreams come true. Space, peace, a measured, rural pace of life have a far greater pull for Kate than the constantly overflowing in-tray on her desk at work. Moving in with her mother-in-law must surely be only a temporary measure before the estate agent's details of the perfect house fall through the letterbox. But when Kate, out walking one evening, stumbles upon the house of her dreams, a beautiful place, full of memories, it is tantalizingly out of her reach. Its owner is the frail elderly Agnes, whose story - as it unravels - echoes so much of Kate's own. And Kate comes to realize how uncertain and unsettling even a life built on dreams can be - wherever you are, at whatever time you are living and whoever you are with. Praise for Rachel Hore's novels: 'A tour de force. Rachel's Paris is rich, romantic, exotic and mysterious' JUDY FINNIGAN 'An elegiac tale of wartime love and secrets' Telegraph 'A richly emotional story, suspenseful and romantic, but unflinching in its portrayal of the dreadful reality and legacy of war' Book of the Week, Sunday Mirror 'Pitched perfectly for a holiday read' Guardian 'Engrossing, pleasantly surprising and throughly readable' SANTA MONTEFIORE 'A beautifully written and magical novel about life, love and family' CATHY KELLY No library descriptions found. |
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