I have sadly finished the third book by Kate Morton; sad because there are no more to read right now. I wrote about the first two The House at Riverton and The Forgotten Garden in a previous post. I did not read those two in the order in which they were written, but the order does not actually matter as Morton's books are not related to each other. What they do have in common is fantastic-ness.
The Distant Hours is again a work of historical fiction revolving around World War II. Edie discovers, in the present, after the delivery of a 50 year old letter, that her mother was evacuated to Milderhurst Castle during the war. At Milderhurst, reside the three Blythe sisters; twins Persephone (Miss Percy) and Seraphina (Miss Saffy) and their younger sister Juniper. They are the now elderly daughters of Raymond Blythe the renowned author of The True History of the Mud Man. There is not much else I can say without giving the book away. Just as with the other two, Morton has story-wrighted (just like wheelwrights, shipwrights, and playwrights are crafters, so too is Morton) a story of love, betrayal, death, longing, and loyalty that just carries the reader along. When I read her books my brain is firing all its neurons trying to figure out where she is going with these characters and their secrets. Sometimes I get it partially right and other times I am just wrong, wrong, wrong. But that is what I look for in a good mystery: brain exercise and twists and turns I cannot anticipate.
Read it! Then join me in waiting patiently (or not) for Morton's next book!
