Kate Morton, the author of “The Distant Hours“, grew up in SE Queensland and currently lives in Brisbane. She is a skilled author who is able to link the past with the present smoothly, while maintaining a tension that lends itself to a intriguing mystery and a good story.
In “The distant hours”, we meet the narrator, Edie Burchill, who does not seem to have a close relationship with her mother, Meredith. However, when a mysterious long-lost letter addressed to her mother arrives, Edie begins to wonder if her mother is the holder of some past secrets. The letter has a return address of Milderhurst Castle and its contents prompt an unexpected reaction in Meredith. Edie’s journey to discover answers about her mother’s past begins and at the same time she finds the answers to many old and forgotten mysteries.
The reader is moved from the present into the past in order to find the truth behind her mother’s letter. Edie comes across a copy of “The True History of the Mud Man”, a story which enthralled her when she was a child and which has direct links with the mysteries that begin to envelop her.
Edie walks into the past when she visits Milderhurst Castle and meets it’s lavender scented owners, twin sisters Persephone (Percy), Seraphina (Saffy) and their younger sibling, Juniper, who drops into her own lost world from time to time. We can smell the decay, the dust, the mustiness of this old neglected building where more and more mysteries are gradually revealed leading to more and more questions for Edie to explore. On her journey to uncover the secrets of her mother’s past, she also solves the link between “The True History of the Mud Man” and Juniper’s madness.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading “The Distant Hours” and frequently had trouble putting it down! It had a good mix of varied and interesting characters, settings and themes. It also presented a very good story with the right amount of mystery, suspense and danger.
Post by Brenda from Southport Library
