Rating: 3 Stars
Published: April 11, 2024
Pages: 400
Genre: Historical Fiction
This is the author’s 4th book and I have been a fan of her since I read her debut novel ‘The Familiars’. It is one of my highly anticipated novels for this year, so I was excited to go into reading it.
‘The House Hold’ is a story set in Victorian England based around some actual events involving the renowned author, Charles Dickens and the famous heiress, Angela Burdett-Coutts who both established a house for “fallen women” who had either been to prison or had a questionable past where they could learn skills that would help them in future after they leave the house and emigrate to one of the colonies to begin a new life sponsored by them. As the girls begin to come into the house, friendships are formed as they learn new skills and adapt to a new way of life. However, for some of them it may just be another prison they will want to escape from if the opportunity presents itself. In the midst of all this, Angela Burdett-Coutts is dealing with problems of her own as her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison and her old fears have resurfaced. As she tries to make sense of what his being on the lose may mean to her life now, unknown to her the culprit has already mapped out an ambitious plan that will affect not only Angela but the innocent lives she has promised a better life and future.
This was a slow burn that never quite climaxed as I would have expected. I suppose it may have had to do with the author leaving all the tea to the very end of the story and by then I was exhausted. On a general note, it was a really good story albeit it is based on actual events and the house for fallen women existed for 10 years with a somewhat average success rate as some of the girls emigrated to Australia and other colonies to start new lives. I wish the story was more fast paced and the plot tighter because I felt it had potential to be more, but I guess we can’t win all the time. This is obviously my least favorite book by the author yet as the other three books were brilliant, but I still look forward to whatever next the author will come up with.
I would still recommend this book to all historical fiction lovers especially if you haven’t read anything by this author. It may be a good place to start.
The Author:
Stacey Halls grew up in Rossendale, Lancashire, as the daughter of market traders. She has always been fascinated by the Pendle witches. She studied journalism at the University of Central Lancashire and moved to London aged 21. She was media editor at The Bookseller and books editor at Stylist.co.uk, and has also written for Psychologies, the Independent and Fabulous magazine, where she now works as Deputy Chief Sub Editor.
Copyright © Biyai Garricks
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Biyai Garricks, rovingbookwormng.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Discover more from Biyai Garricks
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.