Another fascinating and highly accomplished novel from Diane Chamberlain.
Kayla is reluctantly taking possession of the house she designed with her husband who tragically died as the building work was completed. He sense of dread is only added to when a mysterious stranger comes to her office to warn her away from the house.
Her story is in interwoven with that of Ellie, a young idealistic student in the 60s, who decides to spend a summer convincing black people of vote.
Their lives intersect as Ellie becomes Kayla’s
neighbour and it soon becomes clear that her history is highly important to Kayla’s relationship with the house and the woods that surround it. The novel building to an horrifying finale which almost left me in tears.
This novel is extremely well written and and fascinating about a part of American history that I didn’t know much about. It sheds an unflinching light on segregation in ‘60s America.
Thank you to #netgalley and #headlinepg for allowing me to review this ARC

Being a white woman from the UK this book was a real eye opener. I found the cross over between the years easy to follow. Loved the book, really enjoyed the build up of Ellie’s feelings for a black man and all that comes with it in 1960’s America. Hard going at times when exploring the violence directed at the black community. Kayla in contrast we’re waiting to discover who wants her to let her house go after the death of her husband in the present day and how her paths are Ellie’s are destined to cross.

Another great book from one of my favourite authors. Parts of the story are quite disturbing but it all adds up to an excellent story and one I will definitely recommend
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC

This book had me hooked from the start and although it was difficult to read at times I felt the dual time lines worked well.

An upsetting read to know that the racial divide was so vast in the 1960's Carolinas. This book tells the story of a white student, Ellie who wanted to help Negros/Blacks get registered to vote. Her parents were against Ellie helping and when Ellie fell in love with one of the Black students, Win the true vengeance against Black people came to a head. With the KKK being a part of the happenings. This was obviously just a little part of what was going on in the 1960's when Martin Luther King was trying to speak about the inequalities between the races. The story alternates between the summer of 1965 and the year 2010. Based in a small town in N Carolina and around small town white folks fears and ignorance. Certainly a page turner, truly enlightening and very sad.

Thanks to Net Galley and Headline for an ARC of this outstandingly book in exchange for a review.
Renowned author, Diane Chamberlain has written another outstanding story, one that will stay with me for some time. I read this book in one sitting, the pages literally turn themselves. It’s told in two timelines, 1965 and 2010, its full of history, a powerful and emotional read of racial prejudices, family relationships, love between a young black man, Win, and a white college girl, Ellie. There is heartache, loss, broken friendships and resentment.
The story gripped me from page one, it’s a very compelling thought provoking read. The two time line weave together as years fall away and the truth is unearthed. A heart wrenching read.

I am new to reading Diane chamberlain but I will certainly be looking out for more now!

The last house on the street had me hooked from the beginning. It is very hard to read in places due to the subject matter but so important that stories like this are told and understood.

Kyla is moving into the house she and her husband designed and built, although she is not sure she wants to live there without him. She soon meets Ellie who has returned to her family home to care for her dying mother and brother.

Kyla and Ellie soon find out they have shared history. We learn Ellie’s story through the book which is so sad and brave. And Ellie finally learns the truth about her past.

Brilliantly written and so poignant. A must read.

1965, North Carolina, Ellie Hockley, a young woman who is studying to become a pharmacist so she can eventually take over the family's business, finds herself following her heart and morals and signs up to become an activist in the Voting Rights Act in the USA with SCOPE. She goes against her families wishes and commits herself to help the cause, giving up on the luxuries she had been brought with and opening her eyes to the suffering and inequality in the black communities. But, when she falls in love with one of her fellow activists, a young Black man, danger from the Klu Klux Klan becomes a huge threat. As they give in to their heart's desires and keeping their relationship a secret is easier said than done, and it soon becomes apparent that not everyone in her circle of family and childhood friends is to be trusted.

In 2010 Kayla, who is recently widowed moved into the home her late husband and her designed and built with her daughter. She already has apprehensions about living in the home they had dreamed of together, as memories are ingrained into the house, and these feelings are not helped when strange disturbing events start to happen. Is someone warning her about something? Does someone not want her to live in the house? Is there a connection between the past and the present?

I found this book to be eye-opening. I didn’t know much about SCOPE and the Voting Rights Act in the USA, and it was horrendously not that long ago! I loved Ellie’s character. She has a strong independent personality. She never let anyone tell her what to do as she truly believes in equal rights, even if it meant leaving her family. Kayla on the other hand, I didn’t feel like I got to know her well, but then the focus of the story is on Ellie and SCOPE. Overall, this book kept my attention as I was eager to learn about the connection between the two characters and why Kayla was being tormented by disturbing events putting her daughter at risk. It is well-paced and full of intrigue. A brilliant page-turner!

In 2010, architect Kayla is about to move into the house designed by her and her husband, where her husband tragically died in an accident as it was being built. Her ambivalent feelings about her new home are heightened by a sinister warning from a strange old woman, the eerie atmosphere of the woods surrounding it, and the hints that other past tragedies continue to haunt the place.
The story switches from the present to the past, to 1965, when young Ellie Hockley defied her family, friends and white community to take part in the civil rights movement, living and working with black people to help them recognise their right to vote.
In both past and present narrative, events escalate as they come together, to reveal the truth of how what happened in the past continues to influence the present.
This was such a good story. The plotting was impeccable, with tension rising slowly through both timelines. The emotive theme of black people struggling to make their voice heard in 1960s USA is handled with great sensitivity - nothing is over-dramatised, no-one is pigeon-holed. No one character is black or white on the inside - but some are trying to be better than others, to atone for past wrongs or to ensure a better life for their community.
The theme may be issue-led, but at its heart this is a story about people, about love and loss and the need for atonement, justice, and, in the end, some form of forgiveness.
Atmospheric, haunting and heartbreaking, this is a story everyone should read.

This is a book I have been excited about since I heard that Chamberlain had a new release upcoming. I definitely haven’t been disappointed.

This is a book with a dual timeline, both interesting but for completely different reasons. Kayla has been an interesting character and her initial meeting had me hooked.

Ellie is a character that has made me question how timelines would interweave or be relevant to each other. My reading has led me to jaw dropping and shocking discoveries which in parts have left me horrified.

I adore this author, this is quite possibly my new favourite book. I feel this is a story which needs to be told. This is an interesting read which has completely captivated me. I love that the perspectives of both women are intriguing enough to keep you reading.

This is a book that has left me feeling quite emotional, I have found Ellie’s story consuming and it has touched me deeply. I’ve thought about it long after finishing this book. Even writing a review has stirred up these emotions.

This is a must read book. I absolutely recommend this one and hope it will be a bestseller of 2022.

The Last House on the Street tells the story in a duel tie narritive, one set in 1965 and the other in 2010.
It follows the story of Ellie, a young woman involved in the civil rights movement in 1965 and the other set in 2010 follows a newly widowed mother moving into a new home built by her and her late husband. Eventually these two stories of these two woman will integrate and sets a fantastically written story which will pull at your heart strings and shock you all at the same time.
The story provides so much knowledge and presents lots of twists and turns making it a five star read.
I highly recommend a story which will stay with me for a very long time.

This book came as such a nice surprise. I’m not too sure that I’d read much about this book before starting it - if I’m honest, I’d completely forgotten what the premise was, and so from the title alone, I was expecting a thriller. It certainly is a thriller, but also so much more, and I absolutely loved it.

The novel begins in 2021 with Kayla Carter, an architect, mother and recent widow. Her husband has died whilst building their dream home - the showcase house on a prestigious new development. As she plans to move into the house with her young daughter, Kayla, she receives an unexpected visitor in her office. What she wants to tell Kayla really chilled me:

“I’ve been thinking about it for a long, long time,” she continues. “Years and years and years. And now I have the chance.”

This visitor is clearly in disguise, but knows about the new house, and about Kayla’s daughter. Should Kayla still move in? Would this stranger turn up again? Was the land belonging to the house, with it’s mysterious lake, too unsafe for a young child? And what secrets were lurking there in the woods?

At the end of Kayla’s street is another, much older house, which is at the centre of the second part of this story set in 1965. Ellie Hockley takes us back over fifty years to the state’s darker past, when she was a social activist involved in racial injustice and forbidden love. I really warmed to teenage Ellie, who is so passionate in standing up for what she feels is right, at whatever cost.

I particularly enjoyed the older storyline, which told a poignant tale and of an interesting history that I had no idea about, but the more modern storyline also had its emotive elements with plenty of plot in its own right. ‘The Last House on the Street’ is a novel of shocking prejudice and violence, forbidden love, and the search for justice. Some readers may find later scenes rather disturbing, but this book drives forward a powerful message and it’s a story that needs to be told.

Thank you to NetGalley, Headline and Diane Chamberlain for this ARC of ‘The Last House on the Street’ in exchange for my honest review.

Another dual-tie narrative (so many of them these days) with one strand set in 1965 when a young white woman gets involved with the Civil Rights movement in North Carolina, and the other set in 2010 when a newly widowed young woman moves into the house she and her husband had built and designed before his untimely death. These two stories are inevitably intertwined and gradually that connection is revealed. It’s well-written overall, and not too predictable, with a nice amount of twists and turns and some reasonable characterisation, although I related more to the 1965 storyline than to the 2010 one. The tension is cleverly maintained and the two narratives mesh well together, but I wasn’t blown away by it as so many other readers have been. It’s good, but nothing special. Nevertheless, it’s a solid piece of writing and an entertaining and compelling read.

I received an ARC oo this novel via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book was certainly nothing like I imagined. Sometimes there is a long gap between me requesting and reading a book. Somewhere in that period I had papered over the political and social justice part of the storyline and certainly, the blurb on GR makes little mention of it. For those reasons that section of the narrative came as something of a surprise. In fact i think that section of the book was very well written, obviouslty well researched and very evocative of the time and place. The characterisation was excellent.

I struggled more with the modern day storyline which I felt was less well crafted. Whilst the storyline arounf Kayla and Rainie certainly pulled at the emotions and the "strange events" created some tension in the narrative I did not think the two were particularly well blended. It almost felt as though the author forgot to continue the campaign against Kayla. some of the terror campaign(if you can call it that) were truly shocking and then someone spills trash???

Essentially for me this was a book of two halves one absolutely got my attention - the other less so . More historical Fiction than thriller from my viewpoint but nevertheless i di really enjoy large sections of the book.

For these reasons it is difficult to rate but will go with a 3 star (maybe just edging up from that).

I always enjoy Diane Chamberlain’s books and I was delighted to receive a copy of her new book The Last House on the Street.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the history, the nostalgia and the wonderful characters, and the dual timeline story worked for me and I was interested in both women’s stories particularly Ellie’s.
Thank you to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

It's been along time the a novel took my heart and basically ripped it open.
This is such a novel and in good way.
Fantastically written and I felt that I was there with the characters the whole way.

The story follows at first Ellie a young white woman from a small town called Round Hill in South Carolina in 1965 just as the civil rights movement starts.
Ellie comes from a privileged background and her young sweetheart since school is Reed, and best friend Brenda. And the person she loves most of all is her brother Buddy.
But when Ellie reads about SCOPE a civil rights movement trying to help black people to vote she knows what she must do anything to help.
Against everyone she loves she moves away from home to hopefully change people's attitudes about voting, but when she comes across her fellow advocate Will, a young black man the last thing she didn't expect was to fall in love with him.

The story also unfolds in 2010 when Kayla a young widow that purchased a plot of land in Hockley Road in Round Hill. Kayla and her husband designed the house for their forever home before his untimely death.
But when things start to get strange within the house and surrounding woods .Kayla meets Ellie but Ellie is very distant towards her as soon as she finds out who her father is.

What secrets does the old Hockley Road hide and is anyone safe from the truth?

One of the best civil rights movement novels I've ever read.

This is another unputdownable book from Diane Chamberlain. With its dual timeline it tells the stories of Ellie and Kayla, two strong independent women, whose lives are inextricably linked. Set both in contemporary times and in the 60's in North Carolina, we get a flavour of what life was like before the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed and how divisive it became in many families and how far reaching its effects could be. Diane Chamberlain's attention to detail and historical research makes this a riveting, nail biting read full of secrets, mysteries and the search for social justice. I think it's her best novel yet!

A great book , although upsetting to read at times. The book alternates between two different characters and timelines Ellie who is supporting the Civil rights movement and Kayla in 2010, a young architect who is recently widowed. I don’t want to give too much away but the story is intriguing and a real pager turner.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a superb book which had me gripped from the very beginning.. The story alternates between 1965 and the present day and highlights the bigotry perpetrated against people of colour which still sadly still exits today in some areas. The main characters - Ellie,Win, Brenda and Kayla are very strong and the book is extremely well written. Some of the incidents in the story are hard to read as they are so upsetting but, make no mistake this is a fantastic book. It’s the first book of Diane’s that I’ve read but it won’t be the last by any means. Great standard of writing and an undoubted winner. Get your hands on a copy.

Wow!

This story is told in alternating timelines in both 1965 and 2010. I don’t want to say too much about the storyline in case I ruin it for people but is about the SCOPE project which I admit I have never heard of before. I learnt so much from this book, what happened in that era and the type of suffering that people had to endure because of their skin colour.

I can tell that a lot of research has gone into writing this story and I am certain that I will re-read this one again. A fantastic book by a brilliant author whose books never fail to disappoint me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.