Het is een heerlijk boek om te lezen. Een hoop dramatiek, een hoop geschiedenis en heel erg veel verwikkelingen doordat het blijkbaar erg moeilijk is om eerlijk en oprecht te zijn. Al je van dit soort boeken houdt (en dat doe ik) dan is dit echt een aanrader. Pluspunt voor mij: er zitten geesten in! ( )

An intrigue premise for a novel that fell flat for me. Set in Ireland in the early 20th century, this novel tackles the privilege of old Anglo-Irish families during the tumultuous era of the Irish independence movement. Overall, I like the idea of the book, but I just never felt engaged with the characters and story. I did listen to this one as an audiobook, which might be part of the reason I didn't get into it. ( )

I am never disappointed with Santa Montefiore’s books, I have been reading her books since her first release and this the first in a trilogy was just what I needed right now, looking forward to reading the the remaining two books. ( )

This book takes place in Ireland from 1910-1925. Kitty Deverill is the Anglo-Irish youngest child of Bertie and Maud Deverill, and lives in the grand but cursed Deverill Castle. The daughter of the Deverill’s cook, Bridie is Kitty’s best friend despite the differences in their social statuses, and Kitty’s vivacious cousin Celia completes their social circle. The story encompasses the drive for Irish independence, which Kitty is a staunch advocate for, as well as complications in love when two of the girls have feelings for the same man (trying to keep this spoiler free). Pretty much ignored by her father and very much despised by her mother, Kitty is at least close to her grandmother Adeline. As she grows into an intelligent and fiercely independent young woman, the political and romantic situations manifest themselves in shocking and dangerous ways.

Kitty, Celia and Bridie find themselves inhabiting different parts of the world as their lives take them on unexpected journeys, but their hearts will always belong in Ireland and at Castle Deverill.

For anyone who isn’t aware, it’s worth knowing that this book is the first in a trilogy, so if you want a story with a definitive ending you won’t find it here. Personally speaking I’m not sure I enjoyed it enough to read the next book, although I would like to know what happens. I swung this way and that during the book – I really enjoyed some parts of it but other parts moved too slowly and didn’t hold my interest. The sweeping romance did not really capture my attention as I did not warm to either of the two people involved. The other problem was that none of the three main female characters were memorable enough for me to want to root for them. They were all either incredibly naive or very selfish – one of them in particular did a particularly horrible thing, which added little to the story and could easily have been left out.

The writing is fine if sometimes a little overly-sentimental, and although it was enough to hold my interest, it was never one of those books that you can’t wait to pick up. Then again this is not normally a genre I would go for, so I shouldn’t be surprised. Overall I would have to say that while I didn’t hate it, I certainly wouldn’t be in a rush to read anything else by this author. ( )

I barely made it through the book so I cannot fathom why anyone would wish to be subjected to an entire trilogy of this sort of thing.

Thanks to Simon&Schuster who were disorganized enough to send me two copies of this book for review. ( )