4.5 Stars

Overview: The House of Lost Whispers is the first book I've read by Jenni Keer, and it is a genre-defying novel in the best possible way. It's primarily a historical fiction coming-of-age story set in the 1910-20s, and spans the time from the Titanic sinking to after the first World War. The primary theme is romance, but with mystery, magical realism, philosophy, and whimsy tucked in as well.

Summary: It's best to go into this book blind, but here's a brief non-spoiler summary. Main character Olivia loses her parents in the sinking of the Titanic and moves in with her godparents and their four sons. She has many adventures with the boys and gets to know their young male gardener as well. One day, she hears a male voice through the wall of her bedroom. It turns out, there is another dimension similar to her own world, but where the Titanic did not sink and her parents are still alive. As WW1 approaches, she loses touch with the voice in the wall, and gets immersed with her adopted family. But after the war she reunited with the man in the wall, and they begin to piece together what is really going on. There is romance along the way, with twists you don't expect, but I won't spoil it here.

Impressions: The location is mostly Suffolk and Norfolk, England and I was transported into the beauty of the landscape. The author is British, so the language used, location descriptions, and social conventions are authentic. About 75% of my reading is historical fiction set in England, so this authenticity is important to me.

The writing style really drew me in. I didn't expect to get through a 377 page ebook in 2.5 days, but I woke early to find out what happened in this book. The plot didn't fully resolve until the last page. I acknowledge that the mash-up of genres may not be for all readers, but it's exactly what I love. It had echoes of Carroll's Alice through the Looking Glass, and yet the first 1/4th really felt like The Secret Garden. It was refreshing to read a romance that wasn't full of over-used tropes. It was unique, and quirky, and immersive. It would be a great book club pick for fans of eccentric historical fiction or romance. There were lots of quotable statements embedded that would propel good discussion. I also found myself laughing at the situations the witty main character got herself into.

I could have done without the romantic scenes but otherwise loved the whole book!

Content Considerations: Scant language, some innuendos, some alluding to a side character being gay, a couple (2 or 3) vague/brief/mostly non-descriptive open door romantic scenes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC.

It is 1912. The Titanic has sunk. Or has she? Olivia Davenport has been orphaned at 13. But has she really?

After the Davenport parents sink with the Titanic, 13 year old Olivia is sent to live with the Fairchilds, her guardians at Merriford Manor. They are kind people but not very demonstrative. They have four sons, Clarence, Louis, Howard and Benji, with Howard being roughly her age. She also meets a very grumpy young gardener called Seth Tanner, but he doesn't take much notice of her.

Olivia is a very unusual child, full of wild, fun imagination that she seems to have inherited from her writer father. She asks to be allowed to sleep in one of the towers on her own, and one night she hears a voice that seems to come from next door. It is Seth Tanner but he seems to live in an overlapping parallel universe where the Titanic never sank.

Then World War I, often called "The Great War", starts and frustratingly, this unusual occurrence is parked for half the book while men and boys in both worlds go to war and women and girls try to gain some purpose by helping the war effort. Merriford Manor is turned into a convalescent hospital while three of the four sons go fighting "the Hun".

After the war Seth returns to the tower and we finally delve into the two worlds that are mostly but not exactly the same and what it means for Seth and Olivia. Can they solve the mystery of Seth's first girlfriend's disappearance, overcome wartime grief and more importantly - can they meet and fall in love in their own worlds, if they cannot meet through the wall?

I don't read a lot of historical fiction, unless it's the Tudors, but Jenni Keer's unique stories always draw me in for that one magical realism thing that you just have to run with. The characters are well-drawn and compelling damaged souls trying to rescue each other after a melancholic exploration of loss. This is, as usual, incredibly well-written and interesting and the author packs in a lot, but I wish that the majority of the book had been about the mystery of two overlapping worlds and how to deal with it, plus I would have liked to see more of the Titanic disaster-free world.

Nevertheless, if you enjoy love across class barriers in an atmospheric historical setting with a dash of mystery and alternate histories science fiction, plus a gorgeous cover, this is for you. Run of the mill this isn't.

The storyline sounded so interesting to me but the book fell a little flat. I was hoping for more. I love the idea of two parallels but we didn’t get to that until much later. I also felt like sometimes the plot was all over the place and at times did not make sense from previous details.

I don't think I got quite what I was expecting with this one.
I was expecting more focus on the different realities, which didn't really kick in until a good way through the book.
As much as this is classed as historical fiction, it has a definite feel of young adult to me.
Never the less, I enjoyed Olivia.
She was spirited and fun, and curious, and a character you can't help but warm to.
Interesting to see her work out exactly what was going on.