An unusual story, in that none of the main characters seem to shine, or are really likeable!
Told through dual time lines, Ivy Boscawen is mourning the death of her son, Tim, in the Great War. Her husband, Richard, refuses to talk about the death of his son, and this reaction, causes Ivy to remember another death of a young boy in 1888, William Tremain, 7 years old, in a house fire at Polneath , an estate in Cornwall.
Back in 1888, Ivy was the daughter of Dr. Cardew, who was called out to the fire that day. She also attended, and it was there, that Ivy met her eventual husband, Richard, who was the Coroner, who examined the body of the deceased. The suspect is a maid in the house, Agnes, and Ivy is asked to stay with Agnes, both to keep watch over her, and to gain any useful information about events that have happened.
Ivy is a complex character, never completely satisfied with her life, always asking, could I have done more, been happier? An early case of FOMO?!! The question that arose for me was. , Why did she marry Richard, was he her only chance of happiness, she was really in love with another.
The character I liked the best was Agnes, who was suspected of a horrific crime, sullen on the surface, but scratch around, and what she had to endure, made her the most interesting character in the book. The life of a young woman, in service, was not a bed of roses, not every master respected boundaries.
For a murder mystery, the story felt curiously flat and not quite Gothic. There was suspense and loads of secrets, but , it was a hard book to become really involved with, at times, it felt rather laboured, not free flowing. There was much made of Tim’s death, but the mystery of how and why, just seemed to fizzle out, almost like we had lost interest in this aspect of the story.
Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Penguin General UK, for my digital copy in exchange for my honest, unsolicited review. I have given a three star rating. I will leave reviews to Goodreads and other outlets later.

First of all thank you Netgalley and Viking for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, I did not love this book.

We follow two different plot lines in this story both of which are told from the point of view of our main character, Ivy. 1. Set in 1888 and follows Ivy as she tries to figure out what happened when a major fire broke out in a rich family's home. 2. We see her just after she finds out the death of her son during World War 1. While I understand the certain need plot wise for the 1918 storyline and how it serves the greater arc of the novel, I just wish the focus of the book had just been the mystery surrounding the fire at the house in 1888. It was by far the more interesting story.

The mystery itself was super interesting and in my opinion had a satisfying ending (most of which I guessed early on) but quite a lot of the book was filled with filler comments and reflections by the main character Ivy which I just didn't enjoy. I felt that the mystery held up the novel as I was bored reading Ivy talk about her life and her relationships to people and while I appreciated her and her struggle I found her to be quite annoying. A kind character but also quite boring. This made the more character focused sections of the plot to be quite slow going and I craved more of the mystery that drew me to request this book.

This was a strange sensation for me, to be gripped by a book where I had very little love for the heroine. This darkly atmospheric book filled with people with less than pure motives made for a very interesting read. There is a definite feel of time and place and I felt the mixing of the two timelines was deftly done. Truths slowly revealed and motives and personalities gradually excavated. It was a oddly gothic piece and engaged me wholly in the reading.

Enjoyed this. It's not really gothic, though, but it IS a good historical mystery. It's told from one point of view and plays cleverly with the reader's assumptions.

Really interesting and great read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read a digital arc in exchange for my feedback.

Ivy Boscawen is mourning the loss of her son, Tim, in the Great War (World War One). She questions her role in his upbringing and what she, or her husband, did wrong in raising him.

But she's also remembering another boy who died, the one caught in the fire at Polneath House. Though it happened decades ago, when she was but nineteen years old, the events that caused it and fallout haunt her still. Thirty years later and the consequences are still occurring; Ivy learns the true depths that some people will go to to protect themselves.

This is a twisty one. As the reader, you are taken on a journey through the two timelines: 1918 and 1888. In each period, you learn more about the events, and the ramification of them, in the other time. It's compelling to see how much your opinion changes as you discover more about characters' motives and actions. It's also one that makes more sense when thinking back on it, such as one of the characters has truly terrible things happen to them but doesn't seem to react enough. This culminates brilliantly at the end to reveal the real nature of other characters (I'm being deliberately vague here).

However, this does have the consequence of lessening the emotional attachment to the plot. I found that if the characters were not deeply affected, then why should I be?

I felt that this was an interesting plot- the twists and turns of uncovering the truth of the fire and the character's actions (especially Agnes, Edward and Richard)- but that it never felt fully comfortable in its <i>point</i>. The book felt torn between telling the mystery and developing the romance. We're told frequently that '<i>such-and-such</i>' is not to be trusted or because we've seen the later period, we know what happens, so I didn't find myself rooting for them.

Ivy's story is darkly interesting but I don't see this sticking with me for too long.

Set over two timelines, Beth Underdown’s The Key in the Lock is a gloriously gothic mystery with shades of a psychological thriller and a setting reminiscent of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.

The year is 1918 and Ivy Boscawen is grieving, both for the loss of her son Tim in the trenches – and for the loss of the life she was meant to have. Both losses seem, to Ivy, like retribution for another death: that of young William Tremain, killed in a fire at Polneath House thirty years previously. Ivy’s belief in that the boy was murdered – and her attempts to prove it – led to events that, years later, continue to haunt Ivy. And only by discovering the truth of what really happened will she be able to lay the ghosts of both the past and the present to rest.

Beth Underdown has written a haunting and evocative novel effectively told across two timelines, each of which provides a compulsive storyline populated with a host of believably fallible characters.

Although the novel takes a while to hit its stride, unravelling the mysteries of Polneath and making the connections between Ivy’s past and present kept me really engaged with both storylines – and, as more secrets are revealed, the tension really ramps up. By the end, I was eagerly turning the pages to make the final connections and work out what really happened at Polneath all those years ago – and what ramifications that has for Ivy as she processes her son’s death.

Ivy’s grief was sensitively handled, and her heartbreak really came across through the pages. I also felt that the relationship between Ivy and her husband, Richard, was brilliantly portrayed and bittersweet. The conflict that Ivy feels when Edward, the man Ivy fell in love with back at Polneath all those years ago, comes back into her life is also really well handled. Indeed, Ivy is a wonderfully flawed protagonist – determined, brave, and intelligent, albeit a little misguided and, when we meet her in 1888, blissfully naïve.

I did have one or two minor quibbles – a couple of the characters felt a little too obviously ‘good’ and ‘bad’ and, sure enough, it turns out that appearances can be deceptive. I also found some of Ivy’s decisions a little hard to fathom at times – although, admittedly, I don’t think I’ve ever been quite as besotted as Ivy is!

Overall, however, The Key in the Lock is an atmospheric and compulsively readable historical mystery that will keep you guessing right up until the end. It made for a fantastic start to my reading year and is sure to appeal to fans of Diane Setterfield, Elizabeth Macneal, and Stacey Halls.

This was such an atmospheric story with such a compelling plot. It tells the story of Ivy and is a dual timeline story, set in both 1888 and 1918.

In current day 1918, Ivy is nearing 50 and is mourning the loss of her son Tim, killed in WWI. As she struggles to come to terms with his untimely death and the unjustness of it, she tries to understand Tim's final moments. In doing this, she conjures up painful memories from her youth in 1888. During that year, there is a devastating house fire that takes the life of a small boy. Ivy, the doctor's daughter, is at the heart of the action during the immediate aftermath and tries to piece together what happened that fateful night.

I enjoyed the twists and turns that this book offered and I thought that the slow reveals throughout the book were well done, although you did have to keep track of who knew what at what time. The characters were well fleshed and the writer captured their personalities and eccentricities well.

I enjoyed the exploration of human relationships in the book: parents and their children, husbands and their wives, employers and employees, friends and enemies, rich and poor, good and bad. This added another layer of depth to the book and helped make the characters more realistic as well as giving the book some deeper themes to explore alongside the main story.

With its spectacular gothic setting, moody characters and the secrets kept between them, this is a perfect book to read during the cold post-Christmas months ❄️

A gentle story of the ups and downs a of a girl’s life in Victorian England spanning from being a young girl to becoming a widow by the end of WWI. As a doctors’ young daughter she is able to associate both with the lower and upper classes and aspires to be a lady of the manor being attracted to the young son and heir. Her hopes are dashed when he marries and has a son but then he is widowed and shows interest in her. A fire takes place in the manor where the little boy dies trapped in a locked room in suspicious circumstances. Investigations seem to conveniently be centred on a house maid for starting the fire. As she believes that the maid is innocent. Her efforts to find the real culprit instigates a chain of events that changes her life from achieving what she wants. What is true and who is false is gradually revealed over her lifetime which makes an intriguing story.

I did enjoy this book for its plot twists and surprises in characters, and not once did I feel bored.
This book is a devastating example of what people will do in order to survive, and although some characters made some questionable choices, I wonder whether I would’ve done the same in the same situation.
Underwood very cleverly made me feel for the wrong people, and I almost felt like I was one of the jury members, being lied to and deceived. This was the best thing about the book and I enjoyed the way we slowly got shown the truth by Underwood. I also feel a little guilty for doubting those we were lead to believe were the bad eggs.

I did however think that it probably could’ve got to the point quicker and it was a bit repetitive, although still well written.
I am also unsure how this is considered a gothic novel. Yes it was dramatic. Yes it was sad at times, but not gothic.

Sometimes I got bored with the chapters in the 1900’s, but I see that they were necessary when discovering what happened years ago.

I also failed to feel any real connection with the characters, even if I did want the best for them. I never felt emotional when reading this book.

This book was apparently for fans of The Doll Factory and The Miniaturist, but this book isn’t on the same level as those 2 masterpieces, but it definitely isn’t a bad book.

The Key in the Lock by Beth Underdown in a gothic mystery ideal for fans of Jane Eyre and Rebecca. Having said this, Beth Underdown has a style of writing that is entirely her own and brings a sense of the modern world to her tale.

"I still dream, every night, of Polneath on fire. Smoke unfurling out of an upper window and the terrace bathed in a hectic orange light. And every morning I wake convinced that Tim is under my bed."

It has been 30 years since the events at Polneath but they still haunt Ivy's dreams, even more so since the death of her beloved son Tim.

"I have married Richard, given birth to Tim, mothered him and watched him grow, but I see now the decision I made at Polneath was the only decision of my life, everything married in that one dark minute."

The dark events mentioned begin with the death of a child. Ivy was 19 at the time and often assisted her father, the local doctor with his rounds. One night in the early hours the local coroner knocks to say there has been a fire at 'the big house' at Polneath and their services were needed. When they arrive everyone is horrified to discover the body of a young boy in one of the rooms worst hit by the fire. Ivy is charged with looking after the maid suspected of foul play.

I ploughed through The Key in the Lock. It was superb.

This book took me absolutely ages to get into, I really struggled with it until about halfway through, however I’m pleased I persevered as the second half is much better and I was finally drawn in. I never expected to give this a 4 star, but it really pulled it out of the bag in the end.

My thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Penguin Life, Penguin Business for the advance copy.

I’ve just finished and wow what a book. From the very beginning I got serious Manderley vibes (if you know you know) I just couldn’t put it down. I was really not expecting what was coming in that book and I definitely gasped towards the end when some things got revealed. Thank you so much for approving me for a copy of this book it was amazing!

I saved this to read what I hoped would be a spooky story at christmas time. Bit sad to say it was dark and quite a good story but not spooky in the slightest.

So, you know how much I love my historical fiction, throw in the words “perfect gothic novel” and well where do I sign up?

Set across two period in time we follow the lives of Ivy and Edward. It’s 1888 and as the young daughter of the local doctor, Ivy witnesses the horrible aftermath of a fire that grips the great house Polneath. Perishing in the fire is the young boy William, grandson of the master of the house, and son of the much-loved Edward. Was it an accident, or was it something more sinister?

Ivy is desperate to help Edward as they search for answers to what happened that fateful night, and as feelings between Edward and Ivy grow, we slowly come to learn that all is not well within the household.

Jump forward to 1918 and Ivy is now a middle-aged woman, mourning the loss of her own son Tim, taken during battle in WWI. His death too is shrouded in mystery and Ivy is searching for the truth once again.

I’ve read so many dual timelines lately and whilst this did work well, I found it at times a little confusing without clear separation between where we were within the story. It was also built up as a mystery but really there was none, it was quite obvious the whole way through what was going on.

I think the other thing that let me down was the gothic feel to the story, or in fact the lack of it. For me, there was nothing gothic about the setting or the storyline and unfortunately, because that’s what I was expecting and looking forward to, I found myself spending the entire book searching for it.

On the whole though, I think that’s on me, I probably should have set that thought aside and maybe I would have enjoyed it more. Overall, this really is a wonderfully well written historical novel, and set amongst a time period I really enjoy. I’m sure many people will love this book, it was just a little slow for me with characters I found I couldn’t invest in quite enough to care what happened to in the end.

This is a book which offers an intriguing mystery yet fails to completely follow through on its early promise. The atmosphere is there in abundance as we are guided along by a narrator who provokes curiosity and occasional revelations that things are not quite as they seem, although it ends up lacking a clear focus and becoming slightly entangled in its various narratives.

As a historical fiction it definitely immersive and keeps you turning the pages at a relatively brisk rate, even when the plot is not always the most riveting. There are moments where it does get intense and frightening, but these are too sporadic and any momentum gained never lasts especially long, while the technique of using dual timelines is not fully capitalised upon.

One evening in 1888, Ivy Cardew accompanies her father - the local doctor - to Polneath house, where a fire has taken the life of seven-year-old William Tremain. He was in the room belonging to the maid Agnes Draper, and the coroner Boscawen identifies that the blaze first started in his grandfather's study. Even more mysteriously, the door to Agnes' room was locked and she was not inside at the time.

While Mr Cardew and Boscawen conduct their work, Ivy stays at Polneath to gain Agnes' trust and help try to establish what happened before the inquest takes place. Tremain and the cook Mrs Bly both point the finger of blame towards Agnes, and she feels more threatened by a number of strange incidents. Meanwhile, Ivy has romantic feelings towards William's father Edward, but is already bequeathed to somebody else.

Three decades later, Ivy still lives nearby and is still somewhat resentfully married to Richard, who is in poor health. Their son Tim was recently killed in action during the First World War and she believes it was payback for something bad she did after the fire at Polneath. When she finds that Richard has been paying a woman for many years and assumes he has had an affair, she decides to make contact with Edward once again.

The opening chapters are a little slow paced, but they set the mystery up well and bring a suitably eerie atmosphere to both timelines. There are some unexpected surprises to be found and it turns into a bit of a puzzle to solve, but eventually the twist that arrives later on is rather predictable, and the characters are not engaging enough for the suspense to be truly felt.

However, one of the main problems is that the storytelling lacked cohesion and by the end the two main plotlines - William's death and the relationship between Ivy and Edward - become a bit muddled. The dual timelines do not work very effectively and there were things which were either not explained clearly or, in the case of Tim, not wholly relevant.

The entire book is told from the perspective of Ivy, and there lies one of its biggest strengths. She may be an unusual character to figure out, but she is very interesting and does not always come across as the most reliable of narrators. There are many sides to her personality - extremely conscientious yet sometimes selfish and impulsive and often jumping to the wrong conclusion, which does not make her the most likeable.

Her marriage to Richard in the later timeline is a curious one, and the reasons for her discontent are not adequately justified, other than the fact she did not end up with Edward. For all of Ivy's words, Richard actually comes across as a very decent person, while Edward is portrayed as tragic and respectable, but even he is not above suspicion.

Agnes is also a well written character as it is only towards the end where you learn the full meaning of some of her words and actions in the earlier timeline, having previously only told the reader half the story. She is a true survivor, and much more considered than one may originally think. By contrast, Tremain is much easier to work out, although you do wonder sometimes if he might be too much of an obvious villain.

We get a reasonable amount of atmosphere from the setting, and with the book taking place mostly in Cornwall it was nice to see it have a sense of place. The fires at Polneath really offer it that feeling of oncoming danger and it was this in part that made the earlier timeline much more enticing than its counterpart, with Ivy being caught up in a series of unsettling incidents.

The best thing about the writing was that it keeps you engaged and makes it feel like a relatively quick read. It did go into too much unnecessary detail at times and a number of sentences contain an excessive use of commas, but on the other hand it is quite accomplished and provides a strong feel for the historical time period.

Overall, there are definitely some highlights in this story, but it does not quite live up to initial expectations. After an opening that sets things up brilliantly, it rather meanders along and switches not especially convincingly between the two timelines during a plot which is lacking in direction and clarity. The potential is there in spades, just not the end result.

The Key in the Lock is set across two time periods: 1888 and 1918 after the First World War.
The two periods both contain the loss of children to one of the main characters - Ivy and Edward; one from a suspicious house fire at Polneath in Cornwall and the other as a casualty in the war.
The reader is empathetic to the loss and becomes close to these people and the feeling that a missed love may have the opportunity to be rekindled.
The joint narratives cleverly unfold to bring revelations and changes in how we eventually judge all the characters.
Reminiscent of Daphne Du Maurier’s works, I was immersed in this historical page turner where everyone has secrets and emotionally driven motives.

I requested The Key in the Lock in no time after I saw it being advertised for fans of The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal and The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. I adored both of these books, and so I expected The Key in the Lock to provide a rich atmospheric tale with eerie twists. Although my hopes were pretty high to begin with, The Key in the Lock also seems to intentionally build up the readers’ expectations at the beginning of the book. The characters tip toe around a great mystery and something monstrous that happened in the past. Unfortunately, I felt that the Key in the Lock suffered badly from both the comparison to books by Elizabeth Macneal and Jessie Burton, and from the hype in the beginning of the book. In the end, the revelations don’t live up to the hype, and I couldn’t sense why anyone would compare The Key in the Lock to the Doll Factory or the Miniaturist.

The tale seemed very interesting to begin with, partly because the characters felt odd in a very curious way. I was certain that a lot of red herrings and Easter eggs were hidden in the narrative, and I couldn’t wait to find out why the characters behaved in certain ways. Sadly, the hints and tips and twists never appeared. The characters felt odd and distant, which made it difficult to root for them. I also couldn’t understand their reasoning at times, the main character, Ivy, being the greatest mystery of all.

The story is told in dual timelines that touch on both the mysterious events in 1888 and the first world war in 1918. I usually like time jumps such as this, but here it felt like the separate timelines took away from the story. The narrative jumps around, and the earlier timeline felt much more engaging throughout the book. I sometimes audibly groaned when a new chapter begun in 1918 rather than 1888. The timelines also discount some of the tragic events, making them seem less important and inconsequential for the story.

In addition to the separate timelines, I was confused by occasional changes in the writing style. While most of the narrative was typical of a novel, one of the chapters made it seem like Ivy was actually writing the story in a diary or letter format. This didn’t make any sense in the context of the previous narrative, and I feel that it was an odd choice from the author.

Regardless of my issues with The Key in the Lock, I must say that it was a delightfully quick book to read. The chapters were short and engaging which made the book whizz by. Also – I had a particularly great experience reading this (although the book was far from a favourite) because I buddy read it with Stephen @ Stephen Writes 😊 I loved our discussions of the sections and we came up with some crazy twists (that sadly didn’t come to fruition haha)

I also enjoyed the setting and timing of the events. The book is mostly set around Christmas in both timelines, which made it a great read in December. Not exactly a festive book – but nice to pick up around winter!

Overall, I think The Key in the Lock would make a great quick-read when you are looking for an intriguing mystery. Although the book doesn’t provide the depth that I wish it had, it is a good one to pick up and read in one or two sittings – just don’t go in with too high hopes!

I absolutely loved this book! Just pefect gothic storytelling with a huge, rambling manor house, mystery, tragedy and a wonderful dual timeline. The central character, Ivy, tells us of her situation throughout the First World War and the death of her only son, plus she goes back to 1888 and tells us of the circumstances of the death of a young child in a fire at the manor house. The characters had such depth and I loved the detail of the relationships between the servants and the families, how women had to negotiate their way and all the social constraints and observations of the times. It was dark at times, emotional, ethereal and absolutely captivating. Deception was a key theme and I loved the parellel of the gunpowder works, some explosive revalations. I just loved it!

We meet Ivy at the end of the Great War, having just lost her son and reflecting on the death, decades before, of a young boy in a fire at the Great House in her Cornish village of Polneath. The story then continues, going back and forth in time between then and 1888 when the fire and subsequent investigations occurred.

While I preferred the 1888 narrative, the whole tale is very well written. As a gothic mystery set in Cornwall, we get touches of Agatha Christie, Sarah Waters and Daphne du Maurier, in a really good way! The “twists” are somewhat easy to spot, but this didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story, which is well paced and beautifully descriptive. The historical details are meticulous, and the tragic nature of the subject matter is handled with real humanity and compassion.

I was very impressed with this story and will certainly be looking out for more by this author.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.