witchy_luz's review against another edition
2.0
Dieu que c’était long… honnêtement la résolution était intéressante mais plus de 600 longues pages pour ça c’est un non, à tel point que ça m’a énervé de le lire. Kate Morton n’est définitivement pas une autrice dont j’apprécie le style, je ne vais pas m’acharner
Je verrais peut être une revue plus détaillée à froid
Je verrais peut être une revue plus détaillée à froid
bibliopage's review against another edition
5.0
A multi-layered and thrilling novel simmering with secrets and mysteries. Kate Morton proves time and time again, that she is the Queen of historical fiction! What a wonderful book!
gtmommy05's review against another edition
4.0
This is more a 3.5 from me. The story did drag for me at times. There were a lot of stories and characters to keep track of, and although the ending tied up everything, it wasn't necessarily satisfying. It fell a little flat for me.
mapmurph's review against another edition
4.0
I definitely enjoyed this book. It had a different feel than most historical fictions. I loved reading the viewpoints of all of the different characters, spanning 150 years into the past and future.
It took the entire book to figure out exactly what happened. Even when I thought I knew what happened, I was wrong.
I highly recommend this book.
It took the entire book to figure out exactly what happened. Even when I thought I knew what happened, I was wrong.
I highly recommend this book.
sarahcoller's review against another edition
3.0
Gosh, I don't know if it's a problem with me or what but the last two Kate Morton's I've read have really let me down. If this was my first go at her books, I would have just loved it but comparing to former books, I'm just not feeling it.
This one was really slow to get into...as in, I didn't really get into it until the last 90 pages or so! So many characters and soooooo much set up. It feels to me like she took 400 pages to set up for 90 pages.
Once things did finally begin to come together, there was one great revelation after another and a few surprises. There are two crimes in this story: a theft and a murder. I had the "thief" figured out very early in. I figured out the "murderer" a little later on but how it was done---totally didn't see that coming even though it was definitely foreshadowed in several places.
I still think Kate Morton is a total genius, don't get me wrong...maybe I was just in the mood for something more swiftly paced this time around and felt annoyed at how slowly I was moving through.
This one was really slow to get into...as in, I didn't really get into it until the last 90 pages or so! So many characters and soooooo much set up. It feels to me like she took 400 pages to set up for 90 pages.
Once things did finally begin to come together, there was one great revelation after another and a few surprises. There are two crimes in this story: a theft and a murder. I had the "thief" figured out very early in. I figured out the "murderer" a little later on but how it was done---totally didn't see that coming even though it was definitely foreshadowed in several places.
I still think Kate Morton is a total genius, don't get me wrong...maybe I was just in the mood for something more swiftly paced this time around and felt annoyed at how slowly I was moving through.
brittany_tellefsen's review against another edition
4.0
I am finding it hard to wrap my head around the reading experience this book offered and because of that, I also find it difficult to rate and explain.
Allow me some grace as I attempt to explain the premise of this book and how exactly the telling is executed.
Elodie Winslow is an archivist in London. One day, while working, she uncovers a box long hidden away, that contained an old satchel filled with a sketchbook, and a frame with a picture of a beautiful Victorian woman inside.
The frame belonged to the namesake of the company for which Elodie works, but the satchel and sketchbook have the initials "E.J.R" and the woman is unknown. Elodie becomes enchanted by the photo, and her obsession deepens when she opens the sketchbook to find a drawing of a home she believed to be unreal, a product of fairy tails she was told as a child.
As she digs deeper into the mystery, she discovers Edward J. Radcliffe, a famous artist in the Victorian period who died young after experiencing a severe personal tragedy in his life. In 1862, Edward, his fiance, Frances, his fellow artist friends, as well as a model, Lily, he used for his paintings, spent the summer at a manor, Edward had recently purchased. One he had been obsessed with since he was young. But there, his fiance is murdered and his muse disappears, along with what was a precious family heirloom.
Everyone believes that Lily, stole the heirloom, shot Frances, and escaped to America, and that Edward, so overcome with grief, took his life two decades later. But as the story unravels, we learn that there was far more to the story, and that it is possible that it all centered around a misunderstanding, and unintentional accident, that would end up affecting the lives of many for over a century to come.
To say that this story is intricate, would be an absolute understatement. This is probably one of the most slow-burning, character driven narratives I have ever experienced and I am still torn about my feelings on the subject.
On the one had, the writing is absolutely stunning. I don't believe I have ever been quite as impressed by an author's prose. Kate Morton manages to tell a story in verse reminiscent of literary now considered classic, without being dry, flowery, or hard to comprehend. But on the other hand, this story is extremely tedious.
What do I mean by tedious? Well...you get the backstory and history of every single character in this story, and nothing is told in a linear fashion.
Rather then telling the story from two timelines: Elodie in present day, and then the events of 1862 working it's way up to present day, you do see Elodie, and then the past events are events are woven during different points surrounding Birchwood manor. We will get the history of one character at the manor in the early 1900's, then another in 1928, then another in 1939, etc. They all connect with one another and all of these interwoven lines have connected to lead to where Elodie is today and the mystery she is trying to solve.
I am so absolutely blown away by the complex, convoluted timelines that have been woven through this narrative that I cannot be anything less than extremely impressed and awed.
But on the other, I often feel this book, instead of taking a straight line from point A to B, took the longest, windiest, most meandering path it possibly could to end up in the same place that could have been reached two or three hundred pages earlier.
Now, in most instances, I would be quite aggravated by this. But I never found myself bored by the story or longing for it to be over. I felt that each and every character ultimately had a part to play, a point and purpose that added to the story. I loved the air of mystery that spanned the 150 years of the tale and it was fascinating to see how they all connected. But again.....it could have been accomplished with equal effect in less time.
Additionally, I felt there was lack of closure to the present day timeline. I truly didn't feel that Elodie herself was ultimately all that important to the story and she did not have a connection so much has members of her family.
So, my feelings for it are a bit complicated, but I was ultimately charmed and enamored with the story, and I will definitely be picking up more from Kate Morton in the future.
Allow me some grace as I attempt to explain the premise of this book and how exactly the telling is executed.
Elodie Winslow is an archivist in London. One day, while working, she uncovers a box long hidden away, that contained an old satchel filled with a sketchbook, and a frame with a picture of a beautiful Victorian woman inside.
The frame belonged to the namesake of the company for which Elodie works, but the satchel and sketchbook have the initials "E.J.R" and the woman is unknown. Elodie becomes enchanted by the photo, and her obsession deepens when she opens the sketchbook to find a drawing of a home she believed to be unreal, a product of fairy tails she was told as a child.
As she digs deeper into the mystery, she discovers Edward J. Radcliffe, a famous artist in the Victorian period who died young after experiencing a severe personal tragedy in his life. In 1862, Edward, his fiance, Frances, his fellow artist friends, as well as a model, Lily, he used for his paintings, spent the summer at a manor, Edward had recently purchased. One he had been obsessed with since he was young. But there, his fiance is murdered and his muse disappears, along with what was a precious family heirloom.
Everyone believes that Lily, stole the heirloom, shot Frances, and escaped to America, and that Edward, so overcome with grief, took his life two decades later. But as the story unravels, we learn that there was far more to the story, and that it is possible that it all centered around a misunderstanding, and unintentional accident, that would end up affecting the lives of many for over a century to come.
To say that this story is intricate, would be an absolute understatement. This is probably one of the most slow-burning, character driven narratives I have ever experienced and I am still torn about my feelings on the subject.
On the one had, the writing is absolutely stunning. I don't believe I have ever been quite as impressed by an author's prose. Kate Morton manages to tell a story in verse reminiscent of literary now considered classic, without being dry, flowery, or hard to comprehend. But on the other hand, this story is extremely tedious.
What do I mean by tedious? Well...you get the backstory and history of every single character in this story, and nothing is told in a linear fashion.
Rather then telling the story from two timelines: Elodie in present day, and then the events of 1862 working it's way up to present day, you do see Elodie, and then the past events are events are woven during different points surrounding Birchwood manor. We will get the history of one character at the manor in the early 1900's, then another in 1928, then another in 1939, etc. They all connect with one another and all of these interwoven lines have connected to lead to where Elodie is today and the mystery she is trying to solve.
I am so absolutely blown away by the complex, convoluted timelines that have been woven through this narrative that I cannot be anything less than extremely impressed and awed.
But on the other, I often feel this book, instead of taking a straight line from point A to B, took the longest, windiest, most meandering path it possibly could to end up in the same place that could have been reached two or three hundred pages earlier.
Now, in most instances, I would be quite aggravated by this. But I never found myself bored by the story or longing for it to be over. I felt that each and every character ultimately had a part to play, a point and purpose that added to the story. I loved the air of mystery that spanned the 150 years of the tale and it was fascinating to see how they all connected. But again.....it could have been accomplished with equal effect in less time.
Additionally, I felt there was lack of closure to the present day timeline. I truly didn't feel that Elodie herself was ultimately all that important to the story and she did not have a connection so much has members of her family.
So, my feelings for it are a bit complicated, but I was ultimately charmed and enamored with the story, and I will definitely be picking up more from Kate Morton in the future.
emays7's review against another edition
3.0
This novel is steeped in a romanticism that makes me cringe (a lot) - from the names and personalities of the characters, to overly sentimental themes, the portrayal of romance, and the seemingly all-too-convenient composition of events and items. It is a novel that my twelve year old self would have relished - spending time in its pages gave me a powerful sense of nostalgia and a tinge of embarrassment at my own past melodramatic self.
Having said all that, there are a number of things I particularly appreciate about Kate Morton's writing. I love her use of good words - she provided many for my list to look up and enjoy later. I admire Morton's ability to weave different storylines together which I know is a real skill - no chapter is wasted in spinning the plot together and the plot is pieced together in a controlled, paced way. There's also a creatively descriptive quality to her writing which has inspired some creativity in myself.
There are some elements of the book which have played on my mind whilst reading it but, no doubt, during the next weeks the most important and prominent aspects will become clearer. At present, the themes I've been considering are:
• unfaithfulness and the way it can be twisted and romanticised (I'm not a fan of the glamourised portrayal of affairs in the book)
• heady romance versus real, grounded love
• family dynamics - comparisons and implications of different family structures
• one of the main characters' disdain for religion and preference for rationality and 'sense'
• secular conceptions of the supernatural (I really wasn't keen on one of the key characters being a ghost but it provided interesting food for thought)
Having said all that, there are a number of things I particularly appreciate about Kate Morton's writing. I love her use of good words - she provided many for my list to look up and enjoy later. I admire Morton's ability to weave different storylines together which I know is a real skill - no chapter is wasted in spinning the plot together and the plot is pieced together in a controlled, paced way. There's also a creatively descriptive quality to her writing which has inspired some creativity in myself.
There are some elements of the book which have played on my mind whilst reading it but, no doubt, during the next weeks the most important and prominent aspects will become clearer. At present, the themes I've been considering are:
• unfaithfulness and the way it can be twisted and romanticised (I'm not a fan of the glamourised portrayal of affairs in the book)
• heady romance versus real, grounded love
• family dynamics - comparisons and implications of different family structures
• one of the main characters' disdain for religion and preference for rationality and 'sense'
• secular conceptions of the supernatural (I really wasn't keen on one of the key characters being a ghost but it provided interesting food for thought)
readhikerepeat's review against another edition
3.0
Reviewed at The Book Wheel.
If there’s one word that comes to mind when I read a Kate Morton book, it’s cozy. It’s so easy to curl up and let her stories wrap around you and provide shelter from what’s going on in the world. They’re always so intricate, precariously balancing past and present until they collide in the most unexpected ways.
The Clockmaker’s Daughter was no different, but this one took more time than usual to get into. It took, to be precise, just over 100 pages, which is a rarity for me with a Morton novel. Perhaps this is because I didn’t bother to read the synopsis (she has never disappointed me), and so I was unprepared for the shift in writing formula that I had become accustomed to. Even so, there was never a time when I wanted to put it down because I knew in my heart that I would come to love it.
It’s hard to summarize a novel as complex as this one, particularly because some characters, such as Elodie from present day, are mostly vehicles for the larger story, which comprised of Lily and Edward, so I’ll share this snippet from the book instead:
"The Clockmaker’s Daughter is a book about time and timelessness, truth and beauty, maps and mapmaking, photography, natural history, the restorative properties of walking, brotherhood (having three sons shot that one to the top of the list), houses and the notion of home, rivers and the power of place, among other things."
As I said, there’s a lot going on. And as always, Morton’s descriptions are rich and tactile: I could hear the rustle of the leaves and feel the crisp summer air just as she described it. Even so, the story fell flatter than expected. I don’t have anything negative to say, but rather the author took a stylistic leap that didn’t resonate with me. I have no doubt others will disagree, for the book is still a lyrical and literary work to be reckoned with, but it left me feeling underwhelmed.
As for the stylistic leap I’m referring to, The Clockmaker’s Daughter is different in that, rather than bridging past and present with a tangible object or specific person, it is done through multiple layers and characters – some of this planet, others not so much. This, in itself, was a bit challenging to get used to, for the delineations between storylines weren’t as obvious as I would have expected. The characters themselves were strong, but the threads weaving together the generations were weak. This weakness didn’t unravel the story, but it did make it more difficult for me to connect with the characters.
With all that said, I’m looking forward to Morton’s next book. I have never finished one of her books wishing I hadn’t read it, and even though this one left me underwhelmed, it still shines brighter than many other books I’ve read. If you’re a Kate Morton fan, I recommend reading it, but if you’re new to her, I’d recommend starting elsewhere.
Recommended for: Kate Morton fans and those who are intrigued by a leap of faith into a new style.
If there’s one word that comes to mind when I read a Kate Morton book, it’s cozy. It’s so easy to curl up and let her stories wrap around you and provide shelter from what’s going on in the world. They’re always so intricate, precariously balancing past and present until they collide in the most unexpected ways.
The Clockmaker’s Daughter was no different, but this one took more time than usual to get into. It took, to be precise, just over 100 pages, which is a rarity for me with a Morton novel. Perhaps this is because I didn’t bother to read the synopsis (she has never disappointed me), and so I was unprepared for the shift in writing formula that I had become accustomed to. Even so, there was never a time when I wanted to put it down because I knew in my heart that I would come to love it.
It’s hard to summarize a novel as complex as this one, particularly because some characters, such as Elodie from present day, are mostly vehicles for the larger story, which comprised of Lily and Edward, so I’ll share this snippet from the book instead:
"The Clockmaker’s Daughter is a book about time and timelessness, truth and beauty, maps and mapmaking, photography, natural history, the restorative properties of walking, brotherhood (having three sons shot that one to the top of the list), houses and the notion of home, rivers and the power of place, among other things."
As I said, there’s a lot going on. And as always, Morton’s descriptions are rich and tactile: I could hear the rustle of the leaves and feel the crisp summer air just as she described it. Even so, the story fell flatter than expected. I don’t have anything negative to say, but rather the author took a stylistic leap that didn’t resonate with me. I have no doubt others will disagree, for the book is still a lyrical and literary work to be reckoned with, but it left me feeling underwhelmed.
As for the stylistic leap I’m referring to, The Clockmaker’s Daughter is different in that, rather than bridging past and present with a tangible object or specific person, it is done through multiple layers and characters – some of this planet, others not so much. This, in itself, was a bit challenging to get used to, for the delineations between storylines weren’t as obvious as I would have expected. The characters themselves were strong, but the threads weaving together the generations were weak. This weakness didn’t unravel the story, but it did make it more difficult for me to connect with the characters.
With all that said, I’m looking forward to Morton’s next book. I have never finished one of her books wishing I hadn’t read it, and even though this one left me underwhelmed, it still shines brighter than many other books I’ve read. If you’re a Kate Morton fan, I recommend reading it, but if you’re new to her, I’d recommend starting elsewhere.
Recommended for: Kate Morton fans and those who are intrigued by a leap of faith into a new style.
andipants's review against another edition
4.0
This was slow to get started, and there were several little annoyances early on that kind of put me off (A professional researcher wondering about the origins of a children's story doesn't immediately Google it? And upon finding a mysterious framed photograph, her first instinct isn't to open the frame and see if there's anything written on the back?). I was also kind of unenthused about the idea of a literal ghost being one of the POV characters; the tone in her sections in particular felt a lot more artsy and philosophical than I remember this author's previous books being, and the whole conceit just leaned a lot closer to magical realism than I like. I guess it's fine if you're into that sort of thing; I'm just not, particularly.
Once the plot gets rolling though, it is fairly engaging, although the twists were decidedly easier for me to call ahead of time than in some of this author's prior works. I liked several of the characters very much, and was a bit disappointed that the only ones we return to more than once are the aforementioned ghost and Elodie in the modern day. This is a particular shame, because in spite of having more pages dedicated to her than to any other living POV character, her story seems to get the shortest shrift, and ends up feeling like little more than a framing device.
The whole structure felt similar to, but noticeably different from this author's previous books; having each character's sections cordoned off this way, rather than overlapping and jumping back and forth between POVs, honestly made the plot feel a little thinner to me. Certainly there were threads and significant details popping up in multiple places, but it felt more impressionistic, harping (a bit heavily at times) on themes, rather than the careful unraveling of an intricate, many-layered plot. Certainly worth the read, and I'd even say still better than your average fiction, but I've liked other offerings from this author better.
Once the plot gets rolling though, it is fairly engaging, although the twists were decidedly easier for me to call ahead of time than in some of this author's prior works. I liked several of the characters very much, and was a bit disappointed that the only ones we return to more than once are the aforementioned ghost and Elodie in the modern day. This is a particular shame, because in spite of having more pages dedicated to her than to any other living POV character, her story seems to get the shortest shrift, and ends up feeling like little more than a framing device.
The whole structure felt similar to, but noticeably different from this author's previous books; having each character's sections cordoned off this way, rather than overlapping and jumping back and forth between POVs, honestly made the plot feel a little thinner to me. Certainly there were threads and significant details popping up in multiple places, but it felt more impressionistic, harping (a bit heavily at times) on themes, rather than the careful unraveling of an intricate, many-layered plot. Certainly worth the read, and I'd even say still better than your average fiction, but I've liked other offerings from this author better.
patchworkninja's review against another edition
4.0
This is my first Kate Morton book and I have to say it won’t be my last. I ultimately loved this book. I had a hard time getting into it at first but once I was able to keep track of the characters really enjoyed it. Kate Morton does an amazing job of weaving the concept of home and place with the story and characters.