Product Description
A country house mystery... A family drama... A Gothic romantic comedy...
REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM in Linda Gillard's complex new novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE (selected for Amazon UK's "Top Ten BEST OF 2011" in the Indie Author category.)
SYNOPSIS
"My friends describe me as frighteningly sensible, not at all the sort of woman who would fall for an actor. And his home. And his family."
Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n' roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her boyfriend Alfie's family home, Creake Hall - a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. She's excited about the prospect of a proper holiday with a proper family, but soon after she arrives, Gwen senses something isn't quite right. Alfie acts strangely toward his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. His mother, a celebrated children's author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world, unable to distinguish between past and present, fact and fiction. And then there's the enigma of an old family photograph...
When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old patchwork quilt, she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realises there's more to the family history than she's been told. It seems there are things people don't want her to know.
And one of those people is Alfie...
* * *
Praise for Linda's fourth novel HOUSE OF SILENCE...
"Brilliant book." LESLEY COOKMAN (Murder to Music)
"A story layered deep in pretence and secrecy, HOUSE OF SILENCE provides readers with the puzzle-solving pleasure of golden age detective fiction, complete with letter fragments from the past and the gothic backdrop of Creake Hall. The writing is sharp and crisp, with an edge of dark humour. Unwinding through the narrative like a chain is the hold that the dead have upon the living. I loved it."
ROSY THORNTON (The Tapestry of Love)
"HOUSE OF SILENCE is one of those books you'll put everything else on hold for."
CORNFLOWER'S BOOK BLOG
"This is an author at the top of her form who knows exactly what she's doing. Brilliant. It's an intelligent book for people who like their reading to challenge them."
THE BOOKBAG
"Gillard's consistently smart writing and fully-fleshed characters are the only recommendation I need to read anything she writes."
BOOKHARBINGER BLOG
"A totally engaging read, full of warmth and perception."
VICTORIA CONNELLY (A Weekend with Mr Darcy)
Praise for Linda Gillard's other novels...
"Haunting, lyrical and intriguing."
ISLA DEWAR (Keeping up with Magda)
"I can heartily recommend Linda Gillard... Excellent."
ADELE GERAS (Facing the Light)
"The emotional power in these novels makes this reviewer reflect on how Charlotte and Emily Bronte might have written if they were living and writing now."
NORTHWORDS NOW
REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM in Linda Gillard's complex new novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE (selected for Amazon UK's "Top Ten BEST OF 2011" in the Indie Author category.)
SYNOPSIS
"My friends describe me as frighteningly sensible, not at all the sort of woman who would fall for an actor. And his home. And his family."
Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n' roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her boyfriend Alfie's family home, Creake Hall - a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. She's excited about the prospect of a proper holiday with a proper family, but soon after she arrives, Gwen senses something isn't quite right. Alfie acts strangely toward his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. His mother, a celebrated children's author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world, unable to distinguish between past and present, fact and fiction. And then there's the enigma of an old family photograph...
When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old patchwork quilt, she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realises there's more to the family history than she's been told. It seems there are things people don't want her to know.
And one of those people is Alfie...
* * *
Praise for Linda's fourth novel HOUSE OF SILENCE...
"Brilliant book." LESLEY COOKMAN (Murder to Music)
"A story layered deep in pretence and secrecy, HOUSE OF SILENCE provides readers with the puzzle-solving pleasure of golden age detective fiction, complete with letter fragments from the past and the gothic backdrop of Creake Hall. The writing is sharp and crisp, with an edge of dark humour. Unwinding through the narrative like a chain is the hold that the dead have upon the living. I loved it."
ROSY THORNTON (The Tapestry of Love)
"HOUSE OF SILENCE is one of those books you'll put everything else on hold for."
CORNFLOWER'S BOOK BLOG
"This is an author at the top of her form who knows exactly what she's doing. Brilliant. It's an intelligent book for people who like their reading to challenge them."
THE BOOKBAG
"Gillard's consistently smart writing and fully-fleshed characters are the only recommendation I need to read anything she writes."
BOOKHARBINGER BLOG
"A totally engaging read, full of warmth and perception."
VICTORIA CONNELLY (A Weekend with Mr Darcy)
Praise for Linda Gillard's other novels...
"Haunting, lyrical and intriguing."
ISLA DEWAR (Keeping up with Magda)
"I can heartily recommend Linda Gillard... Excellent."
ADELE GERAS (Facing the Light)
"The emotional power in these novels makes this reviewer reflect on how Charlotte and Emily Bronte might have written if they were living and writing now."
NORTHWORDS NOW
