Eve Chase is one of my must read authors. I adored her previous two books and couldn't wait to read her latest, The Glass House (thank you @michaeljbooks for the netgalley ebook) And I wasn't disappointed! I adored every page of it

1970 - Rita is a young nanny working for the ill fated Harrington family. After two traumatic events, Rita is to accompany Mrs Harrington and her two children to Foxcote, an old manor house in the Forest of Dean. Meanwhile in the present, Sylvie's mother is in a coma after an accident. When she finds a folder of newspaper clippings in her apartment, Sylvie realises her Mum has been keeping secrets which throw Sylvie's whole existence into question

Nobody writes a dual timeline and a dark family secret like Eve Chase. She blends past and present seamlessly, meaning it's a pleasure to switch between the alternating times. Cleverly woven strands provide links that keep the reader intrigued as to how the two stories connect, while her beautiful writing evokes the atmosphere of the setting and characters and brings them to life

The setting of Foxcote in the forest was stunningly atmospheric and I loved the hint of gothic in the writing. The dark family secrets kept me gripped and I became as entangled in this story as the characters themselves. It ripples with mystery and atmosphere while a theme of self identity runs throughout, connecting those from both past and present, with life changing and dramatic consequences. An absolute dream of a book

A Five Star Read!!

Rita, known as 'Big Rita' due to her height, takes on a job with the Harrington family as nanny to their two children Hera and Freddy.  Due to circumstances and a family tragedy that happens at their large London house in the summer of 1971, Mr Harrington moves them all out, Rita, Hera, Freddy and their mother ....... ,to their large but unloved second home right in the heart of The Forest of Dean.  Leaving them there for the summer, whilst he goes off to work, promising to come home as much as he can, but effectively leaving the 19 year old Rita in charge. 

The events that then go on to take place that summer are really quite traumatic.  Grief and mental health issues, marital problems and its effect on the children, and the discovery of an abandoned baby left in the woods would be enough for most books, but to make this novel even more brilliant than it already was, is another story of Rita's daughter and grand daughter some 45 odd years later.  Flipping back and forth between these times, with glimpses of Rita's life in the intervening years, we read of a fascinating and wonderfully imagined family saga/mystery that kept my utterly transfixed to the page.

The settings for this book were brilliant.  The wonderfully evoked mysterious, dangerous forest during the hot summer of 71 is captivating and hypnotic with its alluring earthy, rich, green tree filled landscape.  A perfect place to spend the summer.....no?  It's nearby village, full of mysterious and ever so slightly quirky inhabitants, with their secrets and 'forest ways', add extra depth to the story.

What shines through though are the characters, especially Rita.  My favourite character in this book.  Her kindness and warmth leap of the page and even in the worrying episode that take place, her love and warmth for the children shine through the dark like a beacon, so much so that even with all the goings on in the house and woods throughout the novel, my memories of those parts of book are filled with warmth as I remember Rita's actions. The vocabulary the author gave her , say to describe the forest, or to reassure the children was truly blissful and would of made me want Rita to have been around when I was growing up!   The other characters are wonderfully imagined, with their privileged upbringing and decadent ways but also their damaged state of mind. 

The twists and turns within the book are plentiful and make this a really engaging read.  I felt the ending was nicely done whilst still remaining realistic and proving a satisfying conclusion for the reader.  I hadn't read the authors other books, for example, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde nor even Black Rabbit Hall, even though I have a copy on my kindle! I will most certainly be rectifying that straight away!

I really loved this book. For me it had all the right elements of a imaginative, absorbing summer time read, and I highly recommend to get hold of a copy, fast!

The Glass House is published today, by Michael Joseph Books and I thank them for my advanced digital copy via NetGalley.  I have pre-ordered the hardback to go up on my bookshelves!

The Glass House is a beautifully written, slow burn family saga filled with mystery and secrets. The Harrington's story is a fascinating one, made all the more intriguing by the dual timeline, leaving you to wonder how the main characters from both could be linked.

Set in 1971 we have the point of view from Big Rita, the nanny for the Harrington family, and also Hera, the eldest Harrington child. Then in the present day we have Sylvie and her daughter Annie. This works really well and adds a further dimension to the story.

I have to say this book is slow to start but it's definitely worth sticking with. The story picks up around half way through and as more is revealed to us and things become clearer I found myself being drawn into the story until I couldn't put it down. And the ending, I just loved the ending!

The writing style is beautiful. Set in a large house in the Forest of Dean, surrounded by forestry, this novel was so atmospheric and descriptive. I felt like I was watching it play out on screen, in fact I can easily imagine it as one of those ITV 8 part dramas, my mum would love it!

The characters made this story for me. Big Rita who has so much love for the Harrington family and just wants to do right by them. You can feel her love and loyalty to the Harrington family, always putting their needs above her own, even when her conscience doesn't agree with their decisions. Then there's Hera, a complicated young girl who doesn't know how to handle her emotions. I love seeing the world and hearing a story through a child's point of view so I warmed to Hera and her little brother Teddy straight away. In the present day we Sylvie who has just found herself as a single mum to her teenage daughter and whose mother has just been taken into hospital.

This book is full of secrets, lies and family drama. It is a slow paced, beautiful story that lures you in with its atmospheric scene setting and wonderful characters. It's a book that feels like nothing is really happening but actually everything is happening. It raises so many questions throughout and there are plenty of surprises. The ending was perfect for me, perhaps a little too perfect but I'm not sure I would have wanted it any other way. Throughout the first half I wasn't sure about it, by the end I loved it, so stick with it because it's a story worth hearing.

The Glass House by Eve Chase



The Glass House by Eve Chase is her third novel, following Black Rabbit Hall and The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde. The former journalist has previously written bestselling contemporary novels under the name Polly Williams. The Glass House is published under the name The Daughters of Foxcote Manor in the USA.


Synopsis

Rita joined the Harrington family as a nanny in an attempt to fill the hole left after the passing of her own family. She’s taken on when Jeannie Harrington is pregnant, but after a family tragedy and a home fire, Jeannie, Rita and the children move to Foxcote Manor in the rural Forest of Dean countryside.

There, Jeannie is so deep in her depression she barely functions, until her husband’s best friend comes to visit.

Secrets are hidden and lies are unearthed within those four walls but life begins and ends in the woods that surround them. What’s meant to be a haven for recovery turns into a house of lies and secrets that goes on to haunt women across generations. When lies are told with good intentions, they can still cause just as much damage.




Review

The Glass House by Eve Chase is a multi-perspective novel told across multiple generations, from 1971 to modern-day. Rita is a loveable character; plain, untrusting and dog loyal. She lives and breathes for the Harrington family, caring for the children like they’re her own. Hera; the daughter of the family who’s old enough to remember what happened but young enough to not fully understand but be damaged by it all. Then there’s Sylvia; a woman unwittingly connected to the family that needs to know the truth about her past.

Each of these women and girls are incredible characters, brilliantly filled out and realistically moulded by their experiences. Rita was the main character to steal my heart. Every one of her actions comes from a good place; she’s either trying to find her place in life or helping others.

The Glass House is a beautifully written family saga that keeps you guessing right up until the final chapters. It would also make the perfect book club read as there is so much to discuss from varying perspectives. The story has a few twists and turns to keep you guessing along the way, but it’s the superb characters that draw you in. For character-driven family sagas, you don’t get any better than this.



Fancy getting stuck into the first two chapters of The Glass Room? Well, you’re in luck! Below you’ll find a brilliant extract to give you a feel for the book. Enjoy and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Here we have the story of "Big" Rita who, at the age of 19, takes on the job of nanny to two children in London. A family tragedy leads to Rita, the mother and the children re-locating to a remote country manor buried deep in the forest of Dean. From this point on multiple events - death, a foundling baby, love, heartbreak and family break-up - all tumble in, one on top of the other. There is enough for a novel in this part alone but there is so much more to come as we follow Rita over the next 40 plus years. Eve Chase manages to ever-so-gradually draw all the loose threads together and by the end all our questions are answered. Perhaps, we feel for the first time, many of the characters are going to experience genuine family happiness and contentment after enduring decades of emotional trauma and heartbreak.
Make no mistake this is a grim story that understandably creates tangled and painful emotions for many of the characters so it is no easy read. Eve Chase, however, is an excellent writer,and in the midst of all this human distress, conjures up wonderfully vivid phrases conveying love and contentment. How Rita describes her Mum's baking as "my mother's famous toffee flan that smiled inside your mouth." Or how Rita feels when holding her youngest charge. " Teddy on her lap, the way he moulds into her contours, as if filled with warm sand." And again Rita portraying what she sees from her window. "Outside the window, there's a murmuration of tiny black birds, lifting, swelling: newsprint letters on a page."
The quality of authorship alone is reason aplentyto read this novel but we are also treated to a beguiling story-line that will guarantee your attention is held to the very last page. Highly recommended.

A brilliant book, a great family saga.
A tragic accident when life hands in the balance is just the beginning of this wonderful family saga.
With lots of twists and turns and lots of family secrets all hidden from the reader until the very end that you have no idea of how the characters are so intertwined.
Absolutely brilliant. Just could not put it down.
Five stars all the way

If you love a mystery then this is the novel for you. Dark and brooding story line with relatable characters it follows Big Rita through her life as a nanny and the events that shaped her before that. A super read.

Sometimes the past can become entwined with the present and we realize the world is smaller than we know. Rita was a nanny for a rich family with a tragic story until they find a baby, could this be the glue to save the family or will it ruin everything.

This was a really interesting story. It does take some following at times as it jumps around quite a bit. The story is told in the past and the present by Rita, Hera and Sylvie so we get a wide range of emotion and story. The story itself is clever with some brilliant twists. I figured out some but not all of them. The ending is well written and I like the strength Rita showed by the end of the story especially her final decisions. I really liked Sylvie and Rita, they were relatable and real. A wonderful story with so much emotion and twists.

I enjoyed reading this book and loved the atmosphere and descriptions of the forest. I liked the way the utter devastation that was described when one of the characters lost a baby, that felt very real, very heart-felt.

The story is about Sylvie, who was a baby abandoned in the forest. She had always known she had been found in the forest and then adopted by her 'mum' and had accepted it. But, after her mum had a fall and was in intensive care, it brought up all kinds of feelings within Sylvie, about her past, about her future... and then when her daughter, just 18, revealed she was pregnant, it made Sylvie think about her genes even more. Compelled to look a little deeper, she returns to the forest where she was found.

Rita was a nanny for a wealthy family. She felt like she belonged but there was lots of pressure on her shoulders. When she is sent away to live with the family in their second home in the forest, the husband wants her to report back on his wife. She feels like she is betraying her by telling him everything that happens. But then the baby comes into their lives...

I enjoyed the story and found it easy to read and get into. I liked the mystery element and how much it made me think about how important it is to know where you come from and how difficult it must be for those who don't know.

I do think there were a few flaws within the story and would have loved for the characters to come to life a bit more, for us to really get under their skin and know what they are like - I didn't really know anything about Rita's life aside from her being 'big' and little else. It made it difficult to really care about them. The way Eve Chase writes is so beautiful that she brought the scenes to life really well and I just wish the characters were brought to life in the same manner.

Despite the slight criticism, I recommend this book and think it raised important insights.

Thank you to Gaby Young at Micheal Joseph, Penguin Random House for a digital review copy of this book - my thoughts are my own. I'm looking forward to joining the blog tour - thank you for inviting me.

Initially I was drawn to the cover design - which fits the book title perfectly. This is a book with a dual timeline - a feature of many historical fiction books at the moment, and this is an excellent example of it being used well.

The 1971 timeline looks at the Harrington family as they leave London to stay at Foxcote Manor in the Forest of Dean. The detailed descriptions of the darkness of the forest by Ruth, leave the reader in no doubt that this not going to be a light hearted and happy summer. Ruth has had a tragic past but had been enjoying her job looking after the Harrington children. However after a tragedy, the family are spending the summer away from home, a summer full of secrets, lies, a foundling and a sudden death.
This is told by Ruth and the elder Harrington sibling.

Running alongside, we have the story of Sylvie, her mum who has been rushed into hospital and her daughter Annie, all of whom have secrets from each other, some of which link back to the summer of 1971.

This is a book to curl up with and enjoy the magic of the storytelling. The darkness of events in 1971 is interspersed with the love Ruth feels for the young children in her care. Ruth has taken her own glass house, a terrarium to Foxcote Manor and this follows through both timelines.

I don't want to spoil the story by giving any of the details away - this is a story that needs to be read and enjoyed in the order it is written in.

This multiple character, multi era novel was a superb read from start to finish. Spanning decades and seamlessly incorporating the complexities of love contrasting with societal expectations, seeming inexplicable behaviours and all consuming yearning for the forbidden, this is an unputdownable read.

While her mother is in hospital Sylvie discovers a folder dated 1971 in her house and is intrigued enough to learn more about her family history.

The novel is written in two timelines: 1971, when we are introduced to 12-year-old Hera and her nanny, Rita, in Foxcote Manor in the Forest of Dean. They are staying here with Hera's mother, Jeannie, who is recovering from the loss of a baby, and Hera's younger brother, Teddy. One day Hera and Rita discover an abandoned baby and take her home with them. In the present day Sylvie, besides uncovering what happened at Foxcote and her mother's interest, is also dealing with the pregnancy of her young daughter Annie.

I had a problem with the occasional third voice that appeared between Rita and Hera in 1971 and Sylvie in the present. For me, it wasn't necessary and was confusing taking me away from the story itself. I also found the plot rather convoluted and unrealistic towards the end. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable read and perfect for a summer holiday. Many thanks to NetGalley and PenguinUK/Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review The Glass House.

My thanks to Penguin U.K. Michael Joseph for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Glass House’ by Eve Chase in exchange for an honest review. In the USA it will be published in July as ‘The Daughters of Foxcote Manor’.

In early August, 1971 after a fire at their London home, Jeannie Harrington with her children, twelve-year old Hera and five-year old Teddy, travel to their country home in the Forest of Dean, Foxcote Manor. With them is the children’s nanny, Rita Murphy. Jeannie had recently given birth but the baby did not survive and she is suffering from depression.

One day Hera discovers a baby girl left on a tree stump in the forest and brings the baby home. They decide to keep the baby, charmingly nicknamed Baby Forest, secret from the authorities. However, they cannot keep the world at bay for ever.

The reader knows from a newspaper article on the opening page that at the end of August a body was found in the forest close to Foxcote Manor under circumstances that the police consider suspicious. Still, the details of who and how are not revealed until quite late in the story.

The 1971 timeline is interwoven with the present day as Londoner Sylvie seeks to discover more about her family history after her mother is hospitalised following a fall and she finds a folder at her house labelled ‘Summer, 1971’. In addition, her eighteen-year old daughter, Annie, has just announced that she is pregnant by her posh boyfriend. A boyfriend she kept secret from Sylvie. Crumbs!

This all could easily have entered soap opera territory or become very complicated as there is enough going on in each timeline to fill two novels. Yet the way in which past and present dovetailed was impressive.

Chase prepares her readers for the dramatic events to come, allowing the tension to build slowly as the point of views switch between Rita and Hera at Foxcote and Sylvie in the present. The occasional other voice also comes into play so paying attention to the chapter headings is important. She also utilises the brooding atmosphere of the Forest of Dean and of Foxcote Manor itself well.

I was impressed at the restrained way in which the various family secrets were revealed. I found myself quite invested in the story and surprised by the outcomes. Again, these were not flashy twists but more like jigsaw pieces falling into place.

It is the kind of novel that I would expect to have a wide appeal especially as an engaging summer read.

The Glass House (reviewed also under the title of The Daughters of Foxcote) by Eve Chase is told as a dual timeline (which I’m beginning to tire of) and from the perspective of three people: Rita, who is mostly portrayed as a nanny, the recently separated Sylvie, and Hera, initially one of Rita’s charges. For reasons I could not fathom Hera’s chapters are written in the first person. The action swaps between London, both glamorous and slightly down at heel, and Foxcote Manor, the Harrington’s country pile which is remote and decaying. Eve Chase loves metaphors, as do I, so I loved this aspect of the story. It is primarily a sad tale of a disaffected marriage, bereavement, infertility and subterfuge. I wanted to love it but I became so confused by the characters that I had to keep back-tracking and that impacted on my enjoyment and the fluidity of the writing style. Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the ARC.

The Glass House by Eve Chase.
Outside a remote manor house in an idyllic wood, a baby girl is found. The Harrington family take her in and disbelief quickly turns to joy. Desperate not to lose her to the authorities, they keep her a secret. But within days a body will lie dead in the grounds. Their dreams of a perfect family will shatter like glass. Years later, the truth will need to be put back together again, piece by piece . . .
This is a sweet, interesting and mysterious story, uncovering long buried family secrets, that successfully uses a duel timeline. I enjoyed the relaxed nature of the writing and storytelling. Chase uses great descriptive language when describing the woods, giving a real sense of place. I loved Rita as a character, and I especially enjoyed the chapters written from Hera’s perspective.
I felt the story picked up momentum as I continued to read, and by the last third of the book I just couldn’t put it down. I loved trying to piece together all that was going on. All the plot points are wrapped up nice and neatly by the end, giving the feel of a wholesome and complete novel. It left me with a heartwarming feeling.
In summary, this is a captivating mystery, which leaves you with a warm glow. A great summer read.

This is the third Eve Chase book I've read. Very much enjoyed and it's great to be able to recommend her to Kate Morton fans especially.

The story had a slow start and I thought I was going to struggle but it sudden took off and careered towards the conclusion. Developed liked a spiders web with lots of interlinking parts. Very surprising story in many ways with a great conclusion.

This was such a lovely book. I won’t go in to too much detail for fear of spoilers but I can say it’s a beautiful novel. It mixes a story of the 1970s with a story of present day, combining the stories so well as Eve Chase often does. A great summer’s day read, with all the right ingredients to leave you feeling warm and fuzzy.

In The Glass House, by Eve Chase, it’s 1971 and nanny Rita Murphy decamps to sprawling, crumbling Foxcote Manor with 12-year-old Hera and five-year-old Teddy Harrington and their mother Jeannie after a fire at the family’s London townhouse. Jeannie spent a spell in an institution following the loss of a newborn the previous year and is still fragile; as well as all of the childcare, Rita is charged by Walter Harrington to report to him on his wife’s mental state while he is away on business.

We know from the start that a body is found in the forest that surrounds the house; the story takes us through the events leading up to the event without revealing who the body was, or how they died, until the last possible moment - and even then, there are still questions. Chase leads us to the big reveal through three perspectives across two time periods: Rita and Hera in 1971, and Rita’s adopted daughter Sylvie in the present day. Poor Sylvie has really been through the mill recently: she’s split up with her husband and moved out of the family home, her mother’s in a coma following a fall, and her 18-year-old daughter, Annie, is pregnant. However, this puts her in a position where she has the time and opportunity to investigate the secrets of the past that Rita always hid from her.

The Glass House contains all the features I love in a book: decades-old mysteries, family secrets, a sprawling country house, and a dual timeline. There are a couple of things, though, that make it really stand out from others in the same genre. One is Chase’s beautiful, detailed descriptions of the forest. The other is how dark the story is: without giving too much away, there’s more to the ‘stillborn’ storyline than meets the eye, Hera is a seriously troubled child, and there’s some real string-pulling going on behind the scenes. What’s more, it’s absolutely gripping and I zoomed through it. The revelations come thick and fast, yet never run out - even towards the end, when we know the story of the body in the forest, Chase still has a number of surprises up her sleeve to make you go ‘ooh!’ and ‘aah!’.

It also got me thinking about the use of the nanny’s perspective in storytelling, having also recently read Lucy Atkins’ Magpie Lane. In both books, the nannies have no family attachments of their own, are in a position to observe the family in private (despite Rita saying even nannies don’t know everything that goes on behind closed doors), have interests that give them their own dimensions and lives (for Rita it’s terrariums, for Atkins’ Dee, it’s mathematical proofs), and resist the urge to leave when things get difficult because of their responsibility for their charges in the absence of functioning parents. Due to her position as an outsider, and role as a practical, stable caregiver in the children’s lives, Rita feels like a trustworthy and believable narrator (although, in Magpie Lane, there’s much more of a question mark over that feeling…), who keeps secrets from Sylvie to protect her, however misguided she may be in doing so.

The sections from Hera’s perspective add information and insights that Rita wouldn’t be able to provide herself, even if her reliability is compromised as a troubled tween craving love and attention from her mother. One criticism I would have is that - while 12-year-olds are way more perceptive and emotionally intelligent than people give them credit for - some of the language she uses is a little beyond her years. Similarly, at one point Annie makes a cultural reference that doesn’t really work for a character born in the early 2000s.

The Glass House features all the elements I love to see in a book. It’s also dark and filled with beautiful descriptions. With revelations and surprises right up until the final few pages, it’s utterly unputdownable and incredibly satisfying. I will definitely be reading Chase’s previous novel, Black Rabbit Hall, and following her career with interest!

This took me a while to get to grips with all the characters and tying everything together. Having said that it was a great novel of family life and emotions with unexpected twists mainly to the end. Well worth reading.