Member Review

This was a story that defied genre-typing. It reminded me a little of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children with its aura of magic that isn't always wholly benevolent. Myra's minuscule mansion - which she inherited from her step-grandma Trixie when she was just five - consumes her lonely life, while its real-life counterpart shapes and influences the life of its current inhabitant Alex. In both houses, objects move, music plays, lights flash, and the two halves of the whole draw together almost inexorably. The rarefied atmosphere of the narrative is balanced by the characters. They may be living in a slightly alternative universe, but both Myra and Alex are strong, believable and very sympathetic characters, while their friends - elderly Ellen for Alex, Gwen for Moira - lend humour to the story with their down-to-earth attitude to their friends' apparent foibles.
The narrative jumps back and forward in time, to explore the history of the mansion and the "lady" associated with it. She and her home are supposed to be a source of good, but it felt rather sinister at times - I suppose, like people, even houses will do what they have to do to get the results they want. Overall, a compelling read, and one that leaves you thinking about the story long after you have finished it.