My Review:

An atmospheric, character driven, gothic novel set in an aging house in England’s countryside. The story weaves past with present as it follows the mystery of Applecote Manor. It is beautifully written.

What happened 50 years ago at Applecote Manor? What secrets does it hold?

Present day-The new owner Jessie loves their new home for its historic appeal. Her husband Will thinks its a money pit and needs too many repairs. Jessie’s teen-age stepdaughter, Bella says “bad stuff has gone down in this house, I feel it”.

1959- The four sisters move to Applecote Manor to live with their Aunt Sybil and Uncle Peregrine when their mother goes abroad. Aunt Sybil has imprisoned herself in the home since the disappearance of her daughter, Audrey, five years earlier. She went down to the river one day and was never seen again.

It is an engaging, but slow-building mystery from past to present.  Both stories will hold your interest, although I really enjoyed the Wildling sisters story from the past full of mystery and intrigue!

Book Description:

Four sisters. One summer. A lifetime of secrets.

When fifteen-year-old Margot and her three sisters arrive at Applecote Manor in June 1959, they expect a quiet English country summer. Instead, they find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their daughter, Audrey, five years before. As the sisters become divided by new tensions when two handsome neighbors drop by, Margot finds herself drawn into the life Audrey left behind. When the summer takes a deadly turn, the girls must unite behind an unthinkable choice or find themselves torn apart forever.

Fifty years later, Jesse is desperate to move her family out of their London home, where signs of her widower husband’s previous wife are around every corner. Gorgeous Applecote Manor, nestled in the English countryside, seems the perfect solution. But Jesse finds herself increasingly isolated in their new sprawling home, at odds with her fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, and haunted by the strange rumors that surround the manor.

Rich with the heat and angst of love both young and old, The Wildling Sisters is a gorgeous and breathtaking journey into the bonds that unite a family and the darkest secrets of the human heart.