The wooded hills of Oxfordshire conceal the remains of the aptly named Ashdown House–a wasted pile of cinders and regret. Once home to the daughter of a king, Ashdown and its secrets will unite three women across four centuries in a tangle of intrigue, deceit and destiny… In the winter of 1662, Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, is on her deathbed. She entrusts an ancient pearl, rumored to … ancient pearl, rumored to have magic power, to her faithful cavalier William Craven for safekeeping. In his grief, William orders the construction of Ashdown Estate in her memory and places the pearl at its center.
One hundred and fifty years later, notorious courtesan Lavinia Flyte hears the maids at Ashdown House whisper of a hidden treasure, and bears witness as her protector Lord Evershot–desperate to find it–burns the building to the ground.
Now in the present day, a battered mirror and the diary of a Regency courtesan are the only clues Holly Ansell has to finding her brother, who has gone missing researching the mystery of Elizabeth Stuart and her alleged affair with Lord Craven. As she retraces his footsteps, Holly’s quest will soon reveal the truth about Lavinia and compel her to confront the stunning revelation about the legacy of the Winter Queen.
Previously published.
more
This story of Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, and her cavalier, Lord Craven–loosely based on true events–is enthralling, especially since it’s coupled with a mystery that carries down through numerous generations to the present day. It’s absorbing and entertaining, a great choice for anyone who enjoys historical fiction.
I bought this book after I’d read the phantom tree , because I loved that book . This didn’t disappoint. It was a really interesting concept that the author came up with. I loved the historical aspects and the modern storyline too it was just a captivating story and I didn’t want to put it down once I’d started it.
Exquisitely written and captivating! HOUSE OF SHADOWS by Nicola Cornick spans centuries and overlaps the lives of three distinct and fascinating women. Ashdown House is remarkably atmospheric, and is not just the run-down house it appears to be. In present-day, Holly, while searching for her brother, Ben. When Holly stumbles upon Lavinia’s diary (1801), her life is interwoven with Lavinia’s and the Winter Queen. The author seamlessly transports the reader from one time to the next, holding interest and engaging them on a fascinating journey of discovery, danger, mystery, and romance.
With the knot of emotions the author evokes in this riveting novel, HOUSE OF SHADOWS is a must-read! Nicola Cornick has found a new fan.
Full review at the blog.
I didn’t figure it out until the end. Great reading !
House of Shadows has so many of my favorite things: a sudden disappearance, an age-old secret society, lost love, arcane relics, and a mystical connection with the past! I really enjoyed the historical mystery at its heart.
This time, the book title is not only encouraging but accurate. House of Shadows is intriguing, enthralling, fascinating. I’ve read numerous stories with two timelines but I don’t recall one before this with three, and Nicola Cornick does a splendid job of weaving everything together to make you want to know more, and more, and just a little more. Several times I had to stop myself from looking up the historical facts because I didn’t want to ruin the pleasure of the story. Elizabeth, Craven, Lavinia, Holly and her friends and family all become your good friends. I even became quite attached to Bonnie, a welcome companion for walking through eerie woods. If you like historical fiction, you’ll love this mystery. My only complaint, and a tiny one at that, is about Ben. Holly’s resolution, the description happened too fast.
3 stars to Nicola Cornick’s House of Shadows, an ARC I received through NetGalley last week in exchange for an honest review. I realized it takes time to build up a good rating before publishers choose you to read new releases by famous authors, and so I set about choosing books by new authors or unknown authors that I might enjoy. Little did I realize, Cornick has several published series I could have gotten familiar with. While this book’s plot and setting initially attracted me, I feel it could have been stronger in the execution. Let’s get to the details of this one:
Story
Holly receives a phone call from her 6-year-old niece in the middle of the night, noting her father (Holly’s brother), Ben, has gone missing. Holly takes the long train from London to a distant Oxfordshire town where their family owns an old English home. Ben had been staying there for a few days doing research on the family tree when he disappeared. Holly’s just separated from her fiance and chooses to stay at the country home and search for Ben. As she traces clues, she learns he may have stumbled upon (1) the pearl and (2) the crystal mirror that the Winter Queen of a German duchy, Elizabeth Stuart, of the English Stuarts (Charles and James, Scottish kings) used with her husband, Frederick, as powerful objects to create fire and floods when in their wars. They were originally given to Mary Queen of Scots by her cousin Elizabeth I of England, as a wedding present after being previously stolen from another member of the family. The story is told through three time periods: (1) 1630’s with Elizabeth, (2) 1800s with Lavinia and (3) 2000s with Holly. Somehow they are all connected, and it seems someone used the power of the pearl and the mirror to wreck havoc over the centuries. But how it all comes together, who is related to whom, and what happened to Ben are at the crux of this multi-level story.
Strengths
1. The story is intriguing. Real people (Elizabeth, Frederick, Mary, etc.) are woven with fictional people to create an imaginative story to capture readers attention. You’ll find yourself flipping between the book and Wikipedia trying to figure out which parts are true. Did the pearl exist? Was the affair real? Did she really go on to have 11 children that eventually gave rise to most of the European thrones?
2. The story is very descriptive and you will clearly picture all of the setting and backdrop. It seems quite beautiful. You can separate easily from the views of the house in 2 of the 3 time periods, given it didn’t exist in one of them. The best word I can use is to say it is “pretty.” It sounds like the author has been dreaming of this story for a long time, so kudos to her for bringing it to full fruition.
Suggestions
It felt like something was missing, and the parts that were present didn’t fully line up for me. I love telling stories over multi-time periods, trying to figure out the connections among each of the characters. And some parts of this story handled it well; however, the ending was rushed which felt like I didn’t have time to absorb the consequences of each lie, affair or murder that occurred over the 400 year period. I think there should have been less focus on the current story’s secondary characters (Ben’s potential affair, Holly’s hook-ups, the multiple friends who didn’t really contribute much) and more focus on drawing out the connections among the different families over the years.
Final Thoughts
Given it had some good parts and some so-so parts, I give this one a 3… I’d recommend it for fans of this genre who like things a little open-ended, who like royal and non-royal connections and who love the English countryside.
I’d read a sample of this author’s work again, as the writing and language was good (a little slow at times), but the plot would have to be pretty strong for me to jump on the next one. That said, it is a fair book — just not as good as others in this genre that I’ve read and loved.
I know the property that this story is based around, and what I love is how Nicola’s imagination has taken the real the stories and setting and twisted them into a really original and unpredictable tale. I really enjoyed this book, it kept me turning the pages.
Loved this book Kept me very interested. Fun to read too
Nicola Cornick entrances the reader with a thrilling story of the past and present with a Sistrin pearl and a crystal scrying glass mirror taking center stage. The book begins with the tale of Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen, as she lies on her deathbed and gives the Sistrin pearl to William Craven, once a soldier and squire for her husband King Frederick. The pearl and the mirror are said to be insurgents for the Order of the Rosy Cross and hold the power to show the future to whoever looks into them. The book moves back and forth between three time periods telling the stories of Queen Elizabeth, Lavinia Flyte a contessa, and a modern woman Holly Ansell all who have a love story. When Holly goes in search of answers about her missing brother she finds a diary that is written by Lavinia Flyte. This book begins Holly’s search for the answer of the pearl and the mirror. Could her search also mean the rebirth of spirits in another time? This is an intriguing and well-written story which is sure to not disappoint. [Given a publisher galley in exchange for a honest review]