Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily and it reflects my personal opinion.
I was glad of the family tree at the start of the book because the triple timeline meant reading about several generations of a well-to-do family from WW2 onwards. In addition there is Ellie (and her boyfriend, boss and characters from her last expose as a journalist and blogger), her mother and various characters around her home town. A lot of characters, each having their own bit of mystery / secret! Ellie is slowly encouraged to dig into a local mystery from years ago, some of which is predictable, some having an unusual twist. I enjoyed the slow build towards the final reveal, getting to know the secrets and sadness of the characters, and Ellie coming to terms with her life. There are emotional moments aplenty, and the narrative style was perfect for me. I've signed up to follow this author.

Ellie has come back to her home in Kerry with her tail between her legs, having lost her job and having her relationship end. A friend gives her a box of books from the charity shop and inside one she finds a letter from the 1940s which sparks some curiosity in her as she tries to find who the young woman writer was and what happened to her.
The story is told in three timeframes - the 1940s when young Charlotte Rathmore lived in Blackwater Hall with her aristocratic family, the late 1950s when her brother and his family are living in the Hall and 2019 when Ellie finds the latter.
This is a great read with some fabulous characters who have great stories to tell. This is the first Amanda Geard book I have read but I will definitely look for more.
Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for granting me and advance copy.

An enjoyable and mysterious read that had me hooked all the way through. It was a gripping read that I couldn't put down

This is a book that unfortunately didn't capture my attention. It is well written and has a very intriguing plot but didn't pick up pace or draw me in as the first few chapters of a book normally do for me.
This might not have been for me but I would still recommend it for anyone who likes an historical fiction read, as I've heard mixed views about it and many others have enjoyed it.

Heard loads about this book and it lived up to all the reviews .A real page turner ,i loved it .Plenty to keep the reader involved in the mystery .

An intriguing historical fiction, The Midnight House is a well-plotted tale of friendship with strong female characters taking centre stage throughout. Despite being largely based in a beautifully depicted Ireland, I found the viewpoint and perspective set in London during the Blitz to be particularly evocative. A book that reading groups will be sure to enjoy discussing.

The Midnight House is an absorbing tale of secrets, lies, traditions, expectations and how they can shape the generations.

Ellie is an investigative reporter who moves back home to Kerry to lick wounds after leaving her job and her partner.

There is more to her new found isolation than meets the eye. An unexpected light comes back into her eyes when she discovers an old note written by Lady Charlotte, long since dead, who the community all think committed suicide or was kidnapped, drowned in the lough that has kept her secrets for years.

Ellie falls in love with the strength of character that she discovers in Charlotte and digs deep to search for answers. How did Charlotte write a letter after the date of her supposed death?

The book covers a complex timeline. Although each change of era from 2019 back to 1949 is clearly headed in each chapter, as characters throughout the 1949 / 1958 period are the same and events described jump from one era to the other, it took a lot of concentration to connect to events at times although all that occurred was essential to understanding the characters and their motives.

A proof copy of the debut novel, The Midnight House by Amanda Geard, came though my letter box early last year and I read the blurb and thought it sounded like just the kind of book I adore. A multi timeline story with plenty of mystery and riddles and secrets to be uncovered. But don’t ask me how but it’s only now as paperback publication is this month that I have gotten around to reading it and quite frankly I’m ashamed that I let such a brilliant book linger for so long on my ever increasing tbr pile. It’s a beguiling and riveting book with a few mind blowing twists that keep the reader rapidly turning the pages as you move between the past and present as Ellie becomes drawn into the mystery surrounding Lady Charlotte’s disappearance so many years ago.

The striking cover with its muted tones no doubt would attract your attention if you saw it residing on a shelf in a bookshop. The use of the keyhole is brilliant as it implies open the doors of Blackwater Hall and you will find many puzzling questions and characters who have kept serious things close to their chests for many years. This is a brooding, atmospheric mystery with gothic undertones packed full of unease and tension and so many necessary words unspoken and I adored every minute of it.

September 2019 and disgraced journalist Ellie Fitzgerald has returned to her homeplace of Ballinn in County Kerry. She hasn’t been home for any significant length of time in many years but as we are all want to do when hard times befall us we return to a place of comfort the place where we know we will feel safe and secure and to Ellie that is on the family farm run single handedly by her mother since the death of her father many years ago. It’s a rural area with no wi-fi or phone reception which perhaps will serve Ellie well as she has become a viral sensation but for all the wrong reasons. The details of the reason for Ellie returning are slowly teased out over the course of the book as she reveals more of herself to the reader and they go a long way to explain why she feels broken and has such a desire to turn back the clock.

Both her personal and professional life are a complete mess and she needs time to revaluate things and decide in which direction her life should turn next. Ellie’s story wasn’t the sole focus of the book and although I found it interesting and understood why and how it was there and how comparisons could be made between it and the two other strands of the story it was really Charlotte and Nancy’s story which captivated me. But it was Ellie who was the catalyst for stirring up a hornets nest which many perhaps would have liked to have kept quiet, secret and calm for the remainder of their days.

When Elie discovers a letter hidden in a set of books in the local charity shop from a Charlotte written to a Teddy stating that she is coming, of course the journalist in her is piqued and despite what she is going though and the fact she has promised to stop looking into other people’s business she is keen to learn more. She soon learns the books were donated from Blackwater Hall and when she goes to return the letter she meets Lord Rathmore where the house is in a state of decay and neglect and his mind is not the best. He refers to things she has no clue about but still the contents of the letter and the brief bit she learns about the family from local gossips have stirred something in her she thought had been damaged forever.

Who are Charlotte and Teddy? What happened to Charlotte in 1940 and what significance does the letter have? What detail is there that makes Ellie want to investigate more that makes her question is it possible to step out of a life but not to leave it behind? Without Ellie, the story of the past would not have been unravelled piece by piece and a few truths learnt that turn what people thought on their heads but as much as she was integral to the plot and I couldn’t find any fault with her the historical fiction addict in me was just totally enraptured with the chapters set in the past.

Charlotte was a remarkable character. A free spirit ahead of her time and desperately wanting to break free of the shackles imposed on her by her well to do British landowning family and by the constraints of society at the time. She was such a crucial and central character to the overall story but at times she felt like an enigma and it seemed that way to Ellie too. That Charlotte was made to be something greater than she was or was it the fact she was lost so young and early in her life that gave her an elevated status and persona of sorts? I will not say more regarding Charlotte as to do would give away the core and heart of the story but suffice to say she is tenacious and a woman who did a lot to pave her own way.

In 1957, Nancy, married to Charlotte’s brother Teddy, just wants to get documents signed and return back to England. The hall and the family have always made her feel uncomfortable and unwanted most notably the lady of the house and her cold attitude. But Charlotte was someone she felt a deep connection and kinship with and she is still desperately grieving her loss. We learn more of Nancy through her daughters eyes as a young innocent who spend holidays at the hall but to me there was a constant sense of anxiety surrounding Nancy that she could never be her true self and I wondered was there more to her than at first met the eye. Was she too hiding things just like they all were? Is there a curse on the family? Can Ellie in the present day bring conclusion and certainty for those in the past and in trying to do so do the same for herself in the present?

There are three timelines within the book. Those being Ellie in 2019, Charlotte in 1940 and Nancy in the 1950’s. I am used to dual timeline stories and there being three here could have become confusing but it didn’t at all and everything flowed seamlessly between chapters and time periods. The writing is flawless, the narrative effortless and the descriptions and imagery pure perfection. You become accustomed to what is going on in one timeline and then it alters but it never felt disconcerting instead all just very natural. You are left at the end of each chapter with a cliff-hanger that has you crying out for an answer but yet at the same time you are happy to see what a different character has been getting up to and how all three strands of the story will weave themselves together once of course some discovery and unravelling has occurred. For Ellie she discovers a wonderful mystery to get her teeth into and that sums up how I felt overall about this scintillating story which I can definitely say I devoured in short order.

The Midnight House was a fantastic read from start to finish with brilliantly drawn characters hiding a multitude of secrets. The slowly unravelling mystery that it contains had me on the edge of my seat right up until the satisfying ending although it was heartbreaking and I had secretly hoped for a certain ending. It’s a real just one more chapter kind of book and before you know it much time has passed and you have read 100 pages or more. You know you should go to turn out the light and leave it for the next day but I just couldn’t bare to leave it out of my hands as I was so caught up in the enigma that surrounded Blackwater Hall and its residents.

If this is the calibre of Amanda’s debut novel I can only imagine what is to come in the future and I have a feeling she may just be the author I have been looking for ever since the passing of Lucinda Riley whose books were my absolute favourite. I don’t say that lightly as long time readers of the blog will know I adored everything Lucinda wrote but there is just that something special about Amanda Geard that has made me very excited to see what new, engrossing and exciting stories she will bring us in the future. Thankfully, seen as it took me way too long to read this book, I now only have a few short months to wait for The Moon Gate which will be published in June. It has another stunning and intriguing cover and sounds like another winner for this talented author.

From the description I was hoping this would be a bit like the Seven Sisters Lucinda Riley series, but sadly I didn’t find the characters particularly gripping, and eventually gave up on this story for something that interested me more, and this ended up relegated to the bottom of my kindle list. I ended up leaving this as a DNF because I kept finding other books that interested me more, and reading them instead. This book has potential and could interest some readers, but try something else if you were hoping it’d be like the Lucinda Riley books as I did.

The Midnight House by Amanda Geard

I enjoy a timeline novel but the ones I've usually read have been 2 , this book was 3 , however still reasonably easy to follow. Spaced over about 80 years you soon get sucked into the individual stories and it's interesting to see how they come together eventually , all tied in with a death at Blackwater Hall.
Enjoyed it.

Ellie finds herself back in Kerry trying to put space between her and some recently bad outcomes in her life. Whilst back in her hometown, she finds herself thrown into the mystery of Charlotte Rathmore. Who was she, did she really drown and what secrets like in Blackwater Hall?

The book has you time jumping between 1940, 1958 and 2019 seamlessly fluctuating between the characters and their narrative. Just as you're about to unravel something, you're transported to a different era to hear the view of a different character that has been effected by the revelation rather than that of someone who has uncovered such story.

This book had me drawn in, questioning what was going on and making me wonder about what was going to happen next when I had to put it down and concentrate on things in the real world. To say it had me hooked is an understatement. .

I think this should book should be on everyone's 'to read' list

I loved this story loved the setting for the book.I hope this author writes a second book as I had never read anything by her before.