Book Review: The Secret of Eveline House

Review Score: 4-stars; I liked it a lot.

Author: Sheila Forsey

Genre: Fiction, Historical, Crime & Mystery

Places Featured: Ireland

The Secret of Eveline House had been sitting on my shelf, so by the time I picked it up, I had forgotten what it was about; I knew it was a historical fiction novel set mostly in Ireland with some sort of mystery–so I was fairly certain it was going to be a book I enjoyed.

And I did.

The novel begins in a small Irish town in 1949 where progressive playwright Violet has moved into the Eveline House with her ambitious husband, Henry, and their extremely shy daughter, Sylvia. The deeply religious town isn’t particularly welcoming, though, and Violet struggles with fitting in while giving up what was her exciting life in London. Sylvia also struggles with their new surroundings and soon the once strong marriage between Violet and Henry begins to strain. Add on a few mysterious incidents…and life in the Eveline House is never the same.

Later, the novel shifts to present day (2019) and the story of Emily O’Connor looking for a new start for herself and her budding design business. She believes she’s found the solution when she finds the Eveline House…she does not know its history, though, and when she hears rumors about its past, she soon finds herself on a search for a better understanding of the place she is making her home.

The writing is engaging and the characters are well-developed. There’s a lot of build-up, though, and the final solution is a bit anticlimactic, so I definitely debated on how to rate this one. It was one I didn’t want to put down, though, and I read it in just a few sessions, so it’s an intriguing read.

*I was given a version of this book for free in exchange for an honest book review.