Book Synopsis:
Sunday Times bestseller Rachel Hore’s captivating new novel of secrets, loss and betrayal – set on the beautiful Cornish coast during World War Two and the heady days of the 1960s.
When talented musician Gray Robinson persuades Belle to abandon her university studies and follow him to Silverwood, home to an artistic community on the Cornish coast, Belle happily agrees even though they’ve only just met. She knows she is falling in love, and the thought of spending a carefree summer with Gray is all she can think about.
But being with Gray isn’t the only reason Belle agrees to accompany him to Silverwood.
Why does the name Silverwood sound so familiar?
What is its connection to a photo of her as a baby, taken on a nearby beach?
And who is Imogen Lockhart, a wartime nurse who lived at Silverwood many years ago?
As the summer months unfold, Belle begins to learn the truth – about secrets from the past that have been kept hidden, but also about the person she wants to be.
My Review:
The Hidden Years is a beautifully written, absorbing dual timeline mystery which I really enjoyed.
Firstly I loved the wonderful descriptions of Silverwood and I enjoyed learning more about it’s history, especially the different uses it’s had over the years. It sounded like a beautiful old house and I liked exploring it alongside the characters. It’s idyllic location near the beach sounded beautiful, as did the grounds it was set in . It made me wish that I could visit Silverwood as I’d love to be able to explore the house and grounds myself.
The story is told in two timelines, one following Imogen during the Second World War and the other following Belle as she tries to work out what she wants to do in life as well as her connection to the mysterious Silverwood. Of the two timelines I did prefer following Imogen’s slightly more as I always enjoy stories set in the war. However Belle’s story was also interesting as I liked exploring the different way of life Silverwood offered. There seemed to be some underlying tension amongst the inhabitants too which I found interesting to explore.
The book had a lovely pace to it and there always seemed to be something happening to keep me reading. Even in the slightly slower moments I didn’t mind as I was just enjoying hanging out with the characters. The two timelines complemented each other nicely and it was fun watching them both come together, with intriguing little clues dropped into both timelines. I did guess parts of the story early on but wasn’t able to guess other parts of the mystery until the end which I always love.
Huge thanks to the lovely Sara-Jade for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book. If you’re a fan of dual timeline mysteries then I highly recommend this book.
About The Author:
A warm welcome to my page. I’m the author of twelve bestselling novels, the most recent of which is One Moonlit Night. Look for my new novel, The Hidden Years, to be published in hardback in the UK on 14th September 2023.
I came to writing quite late, after a career editing fiction at HarperCollins in London. My husband and I had moved out to Norwich with our three young sons and I’d had to give up my job and writing was something that I’d always wanted to try. I originally studied history, so it was wonderful finally to put my knowledge to good use and to write The Dream House, which is partly set in the 1920s in Suffolk and London.
Most of my novels are dual narrative, often called ‘time slip’, with a story in the present alternating with one set in the past. I love the freedom that they give me to escape into the past, but also the dramatic ways in which the stories interact. My characters are often trying to solve some mystery about the past and by doing so to resolve some difficulty or puzzle in their own lives.
The books often involve a lot of research and this takes me down all sorts of interesting paths. For The Glass Painter’s Daughter I took an evening class in working with coloured glass. My creations were not very amazing, but making them gave me insight into the processes so that my characters’ activities would feel authentic. For A Week in Paris I had to research Paris in World War II and the early 1960s through films and books and by visiting the city – that was a great deal of work for one novel. Last Letter Home involved me touring a lot of country houses with old walled kitchen gardens in search of atmosphere and to explore the different kinds of plants grown there.
Places often inspire my stories. The Memory Garden, my second novel, is set in one of my favourite places in the world – Lamorna Cove in Cornwall – which is accessed through a lovely hidden valley. A Place of Secrets is set in a remote part of North Norfolk near Holt, where past and present seem to meet. Southwold in Suffolk, a characterful old-fashioned seaside resort with a harbour and a lighthouse, has been a much loved destination for our family holidays and has made an appearance in fictional guise in several of my novels, including The Silent Tide and The Love Child.
Until recently I taught Publishing and Creative Writing part-time at the University of East Anglia, but now I’m a full-time writer, which felt like a bit step. My boys are all grown up now and finding their way in the world, but we still see a lot of them. My husband David is a writer, too (he writes as D.J. Taylor), so we understand each other’s working lives.
I find I have to have a regular routine with my writing, not least to keep the book in my head. My aim is to sit down at 9am every morning and write till lunchtime, then again the afternoon, but there is often something ready to interrupt this, not least our Labrador girl Zelda, so I go with the flow.
I hope that you are able to find my books easily and enjoy them – I am always happy to hear from readers!
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