The Clockmaker's Daughter

 

The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton

     There are just a few authors whose work will make me pace in anticipation of an upcoming book.  Kate Morton is one of them so I was thrilled and considered myself very lucky to receive an advance copy of The Clockmaker’s Daughter.  My enthusiasm for Morton's books is a bit like a forgone conclusion that I’ll like it. They are long, detailed, layered through time and characters, and slowly unfold.  The Clockmaker’s Daughter didn’t disappoint me

     Birchwood Manor is a house both unsettling and comforting to whoever possesses it.  Walking in the front door is like being wrapped in a warm blanket and given a comfortable chair, safe from whatever is out there. It happens to everyone but when it happened to Edward Radcliffe in the mid 1800’s he couldn’t forget that feeling and so he bought the house. Through time and now, there is someone watching the house and its visitors. There is a feeling of being talked to by the house, guided somehow.  And there’s the feeling of having been there before.

     Though it could be considered one of the characters in the story this isn’t a story of a house.  It’s the story of Edward Radcliffe, an artist, and Lily Millington, a trained pickpocket, of Lucy Radcliffe, Edward’s youngest sister, and his friends. In the summer of 1862 Edward invites his friends, Lucy and Lily to Birchwood Manor for a month of rest, inspiration and creativity.  Before the month is out there is a murder, Lily disappears and is blamed for all time for stealing a family heirloom belonging to the Radcliffe family.  Edward is inconsolable and thus begins his downfall.

     Through time there have been myths about the house, temporary occupants who also couldn’t shake the feeling of having the house possess their thoughts (in a good way) and who left their stories behind. And now, Elodie, a young archivist discovers a long forgotten photograph and a sketchbook.  She, too, feels the pull of the house and begins searching for the connection between her two finds.    The mystery that travelled through time and waits to be solved isn’t necessarily the one being investigated.

     The presence people feel in the house is the voice that travels through a hundred years and more and tells part of the story, “My real name, no one remembers. The truth about that summer, no one else knows.”  Edward, Lily, Lucy, the house, and everyone else’s part in the story unfolds like an opening flower - slowly, with purpose and in the end we can sit back with a sigh and enjoy the finish.

     The travel through time might encourage a few “ah ha!” moments but don’t spend your time trying to figure it all out.  Let the story unfold over itself and just enjoy the ride.