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House of Glass

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House of Glass

By: Susan Fletcher
Narrated by: Joanna Bending
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About this listen

 I had a curious sense of being watched.

June 1914 and a young woman - Clara Waterfield - is summoned to a large stone house in Gloucestershire. Her task: to fill a greenhouse with exotic plants from Kew Gardens, to create a private paradise for the owner of Shadowbrook. Yet, on arrival, Clara hears rumours: something is wrong with this quiet, wisteria-covered house. Its gardens are filled with foxgloves, hydrangea and roses; it has lily-ponds, a croquet lawn - and the marvellous new glasshouse awaits her. But the house itself feels unloved. Its rooms are shuttered, or empty. The owner is mostly absent; the housekeeper and maids seem afraid. And soon, Clara understands their fear: for something - or someone - is walking through the house at night. In the height of summer, she finds herself drawn deeper into Shadowbrook's dark interior - and into the secrets that violently haunt this house. Nothing - not even the men who claim they wish to help her - is quite what it seems.

Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier, this is a wonderful, atmospheric Gothic page-turner.

A deeply absorbing, unputdownable ghost story that's also a love story; for readers who love Sarah Waters's The Little Stranger; Frances Hodges Burnett's The Secret Garden; Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace; Jane Harris's The Observations.©2018 Susan Fletcher (P)2018 Little Brown Book Group Fantasy Fiction Gothic Historical Fiction Horror Scary Paranormal Haunted

Critic reviews

Brilliant characterisation, beautiful and mesmerising story: like entering a dream. I was spellbound and couldn't do anything else but keep reading (Jill Dawson)
A gorgeous, darkly gothic treat (Amanda Craig)
House of Glass may start as a ghost story but turns into something much more profound: a lyrical examination of how women carve lives out of a male-dominated society, even with a war looming that will change everyone. I was surprised and moved (Tracy Chevalier)
All stars
Most relevant
this book takes you on a slow winding story which describes everything in beautiful detail.

beautiful story with avid descriptions

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A bit longwinded, a novel that concentrates on sensations, on what the main character can feel upon touching materials, what she can smell, what she can hear and see....it all becomes a bit too much and the plot seems a bit constructed too, at least to me, and most of all it is a love story, about how the heroine ends up knowing who of the male characters she is actually in love with. I was a bit sceptic from the beginning because how plausible is it that a young woman is being given the kind of job that she gets on account of her interest in flora? And that she travels alone by train on her way to said job and it all takes place before WW1? But okay, to be fair, the author must have done quite a lot of research and it is interesting to follow the main character's development and progress into a more sociably knowledgeable woman.

Struggled in parts.........

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Enjoyable, meandering tale, lovely use of language. A nice symmetry to the ending which I liked (unlike a previous reviewer). Only four stars because I did not connect with the characters quite as much as in novels I rate five stars. But still, highly recommend, especially if you enjoy gardens and ghosts.

Relaxing

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When I purchased this story I thought it was a basic ghost story.
Lovely surprise and well worth a listen.

Not what I expected

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All the way through this book I was enthralled by the ghostliness of it; the gothic setting of the big, grand house and the intriguing protagonist with her poor health; all had the recipe for a great spooky story. But at the end (without giving too much away) I was very much left wanting. I felt the author bottled it at the last minute and thought "nah I'll just make this somthing more realistic and obvious". I did however devour this book and listen none stop so that alone is testament to what an intriguing listen it is. It's narrated well but the narrator does whisper alot so, being hard of hearing I often had to rewind and listen harder to catch every word! It's alot better that some of the tat out there at the moment though. Worth a listen if you can forgive the cop out ending!

Disappointing ending!

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