A lost child...

On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but the Authoress has disappeared without a trace.

A terrible secret...

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell O'Connor learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

A mysterious inheritance...

On Nell's death, her grand-daughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.
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This is another hefty tome from the bestselling author of 'The House at Riverton'. The tale meanders back and forth from the early 1900s to 1975 and 2005. I don't usually mind stories that jump around in time, but even for me, this one was a little disjointed. By far the most interesting (to me) part of the book was set in the 1900s and I felt that with a bit of tweaking, one could do away with the most modern characters completely!

It is a tale full of secrets, and it is the unravelling of them that concerns modern day Cassandra, a character I never fully believed in and couldn't bring myself to care about. Fortunately, Eliza and Rose, who live in the 1900s make up for the wishy washy Cassandra, and it their entwined lives that make this book worth reading.

Arrived today. Thank you for your generous offer and sending it on. Looks like a mega read!! Be a while before I get to this one though, so addd to very high TBR pile.

This has been sitting on my shelf for far too long......enjoying it so far 100+ pages in.

Phew...that was a big read but I got there in the end and overall and enjoyable one. The tale takes place over 1913, 1975 and 2005 and each chapter goes between each and the different characters, Nell, Eliza and Cassandra. Nell being the main character and who the mystery unfolds around, abandoned overseas in Australia but not remembering much about how she arrived there apart from 'the Authoress'. Who is she and why does she remember her? In time she travels back to England/Cornwall to find out the truth about who her parents were and hopefully why she was sent away, and buys a cottage. After her death Cassandra, Nell's granddaughter discovers she has inherited Cliff Cottage, which is in the grounds of Blackhurst Manor (where lies the Forgotten Garden). Will this uncover the mystery of the past gone by and answer the intriguing questions of her grandmother's past? I cannot divulge....you will have to read it to find the answers.

The chapters intertwined with the mystery and characters. A little twist towards the latter part of the book I wasn't expecting, but added to the storyline. All in all I good read, but I found it a little too long.

Will be left on the OBCZ shelf underneath the screen, in the bar downstairs.