I won this ARC in a contest hosted by Simon & Schuster Canada

Kate Morton is a prolific writer, but oddly enough I had never read one of her books before. And now that I have, I fully realize what I’ve been missing.

The first half of the book spent a lot of time on a lot of different characters. I struggled to see the reason for that focus, and wondered where Morton was going with it. I should have had more faith. As each person’s history was laid out, the different stories started to blend and overlap in fascinating ways. I literally found myself exclaiming out loud my surprise at the end of most of the chapters in the second half of the book. It was brilliant, and it blew me away.

But it’s more than just a superbly planned mystery - Morton’s writing flows beautifully, drawing you in very quickly. The central character in the story is actually a house, and it seems to breathe with a life of its own. Many of her human characters were less developed next to Birchwood Manor, which I actually think worked out quite well. But that’s not to say her characterizations were lacking - they were quite the opposite. I found myself relating to Lucy, my heart ached for Lily, and I despised Thurston with a passion.

Yes, this book is a ghost story - but it is also so much more. Read it and see for yourself.