Laura's Reviews: The London House by Katherine Reay (Austenprose Book Tour)

Thursday, November 4, 2021

The London House by Katherine Reay (Austenprose Book Tour)

What would you do if you learned a family member may have been a Nazi sympathizer?

Caroline Payne is shocked to learn that a great-aunt she thought died of polio as a child may have run off with her German lover during World War II. Bound and determined to clear her name, Caroline travels to her family home in England, the London House. There she sorts through her grandmother’s journals and letters from her great aunt to try to piece together the story of what happened to her aunt. With the help of her old flame, journalist Mat Hammond, she is determined to clear her family name. What really happened to her great-aunt and why did it remain secret?

The London House was a very engaging novel. I really liked how the dual timeline involved the story being told in a contemporary setting and the flashbacks to World War II being told through the journal entries and letters. I wanted to solve the mystery of Aunt Caro!! I love learning more about Aunt Caro, her fraught relationship with her sister Margo, and the love triangle that ensued. I couldn’t put this book down. I also loved the contemporary story as Caroline tries to figure out a path forward with her parents, Mat, and her own pain on the premature death of her sister.

I’ve read and enjoyed The Austen Escape and The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay in the past. The London House dove more into historical fiction than those two and I enjoyed it as well for its differences. It also made me think about how we may have mistaken impressions of our own ancestors from stories that have been passed down or not told.

Favorite Quote:

“There are very few of us who have heart enough to really be in love without encouragement.”

Overall, The London House was an engrossing read and I highly recommend it!

Book Source: Review Copy from author Katherine Reay as part of the Austenprose Book Tour. Thank-you!

QUICK FACTS

· Title: The London House: A Novel

· Author: Katherine Reay

· Genre: Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction

· Publisher: Harper Muse (November 2, 2021)

· Length: (368) pages

· Format: Trade paperback, eBook, & audiobook

· Tour Dates: November 1-28, 2021

BOOK DESCRIPTION

Uncovering a dark family secret sends one woman through the history of Britain’s World War II spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris to save her family’s reputation.

Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried for decades: In World War II, Caroline’s British great-aunt betrayed family and country to marry her German lover.

Determined to find answers and save her family’s reputation, Caroline flies to her family’s ancestral home in London. She and Mat discover diaries and letters that reveal her grandmother and great-aunt were known as the “Waite sisters.” Popular and witty, they came of age during the interwar years, a time of peace and luxury filled with dances, jazz clubs, and romance. The buoyant tone of the correspondence soon yields to sadder revelations as the sisters grow apart, and one leaves home for the glittering fashion scene of Paris, despite rumblings of a coming world war.

Each letter brings more questions. Was Caroline’s great-aunt actually a traitor and Nazi collaborator, or is there a more complex truth buried in the past? Together, Caroline and Mat uncover stories of spies and secrets, love and heartbreak, and the events of one fateful evening in 1941 that changed everything.

In this rich historical novel from award-winning author Katherine Reay, a young woman is tasked with writing the next chapter of her family’s story. But Caroline must choose whether to embrace a love of her own and proceed with caution if her family’s decades-old wounds are to heal without tearing them even further apart.

ADVANCE PRAISE

“Carefully researched, emotionally hewn, and written with a sure hand, The London House is a tantalizing tale of deeply held secrets, heartbreak, redemption, and the enduring way that family can both hurt and heal us. I enjoyed it thoroughly.”— Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars and The Book of Lost Names

“An expertly researched and marvelously paced treatise on the many variants of courage and loyalty . . . Arresting historical fiction destined to thrill fans of Erica Roebuck and Pam Jenoff.”— Rachel McMillan, author of The London Restoration and The Mozart Code

“Reay’s fast-paced foray into the past cleverly reveals a family’s secrets and how a pivotal moment shaped future generations. Readers who enjoy engrossing family mystery should take note.”— Publisher’s Weekly

AUTHOR BIO

Katherine Reay is the national bestselling and award-winning author of Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy and Jane, The Brontë Plot, A Portrait of Emily Price, The Austen Escape, and The Printed Letter Bookshop. All Katherine’s novels are contemporary stories with a bit of classical flair. Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and is a wife, mother, former marketer, and avid chocolate consumer. After living all across the country and a few stops in Europe, Katherine now happily resides outside Chicago, IL.