Reviewed by Emma Crowley
When Ruby inherits her family’s crumbling old house in the wild English countryside, she is devastated to think it might be sold. Heather House was once an artists’ haven filled with Ruby’s family and their colourful friends. Ruby has always been captivated by the glamorous Clara, a famous pilot whose love story came to a tragic end. Now black-and-white photographs transport her back to World War Two…
With the future of Heather House uncertain, Ruby loses herself in history. But it seems romance is not only a thing of the past when Jake, a jumper-clad American author with silver-flecked hair turns up at her door. Jake is investigating a wartime mystery about Clara, and he soon falls in love with the historic home. But when Clara shows him a view of the moors ablaze under the setting sun, his dark green eyes cause another flame to spark …
Together Ruby and Jake begin to unravel the secret hidden in the past. But can they find a way to save Heather House, or will Ruby be forced to sell it before the truth about Clara is at last unearthed and her new love has a chance to bloom?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of Memories of Heather House to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Reading back over my review of the first book in this series, Secrets of Foxglove Cottage which was actually the first book that I had read by Rebecca Alexander there were one or two things that I had mentioned that I felt weren’t quite right with the book despite the fact that overall I had enjoyed it. I had found the chapters too short and I had said there was too much of a strain to keep the dual timeline going therefore I found the book to be a bit of a mixed bag for me. Well this second book in the series, Memories of Heather House, rectified those issues and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of reading this wonderful story. The dual timeline in this case worked perfectly. The balance struck between past and present was ideal and the uncovering of family history and secrets was a joy to read. The chapters were longer but not overly so. I felt the right amount of time was given in each time period and that both viewpoints helped me to understand how things which occurred in the past had an impact on events in the present.
Within the first chapter, I found myself quickly settling into the story as I got to know the main character Ruby in the present day as she tries to navigate life after the loss of her mother Fiona. She feels cold and empty and questions whether she will ever feel warmth again. There are so many questions she wishes she had had the time to ask her mother most importantly who was her father. This is something her mother had not divulged. This theme of love, family, heritage and belonging runs both strongly and vividly throughout both strands of the story and there are many similarities which make themselves apparent the further I delved into the book.
Ruby has been left Montpelier House, a manor house on Dartmoor where her grandmothers Alice and Marissa had resided for many many years and had turned it into an artist’s commune. But now it is just the elderly Max and Pony who remain and with the house in significant disrepair and a huge inheritance tax on the horizon Ruby is faced with an impossible decision. Should her beloved Montpelier House which is full of amidst the happy times is full of ghosts, memories, tragedy, secrets and sadness be sold or can she find a way despite her lack of finances to keep it going? After all Max and Pont can’t be thrown out.
It’s obvious that the house and all the associations she has with it mean so very much to Ruby and she really is caught between a rock and a hard place. She knows renovations need to happen, yet she doesn’t have the money to start them. Max and Pony need care that she can’t provide on a daily basis as she has her own life working away as a genealogist. But yet she doesn’t want to let the legacy of Alice, Marissa and Fiona down. The history of the family and how Ruby is connected to Marissa and Alice is detailed early on although not quite everything is revealed which is good as it kept me guessing but initially I was confused as to who was whose mother etc. Now maybe it was the frame of mind I was in when I started the book as my concentration levels were a bit all over the place or else maybe a small family tree included at the back for reference would have been helpful to keep things straight in my head. I am being purposefully vague about the connections because to say anything would ruin the story.
It was evident that Ruby was lost and adrift and seeking a constant in her life. The support system that she had always had was gone and she had to be that person for Max and Pony but at the same time she was wrestling with what to do with the house. A major spanner is thrown in the works with the arrival of Jake who is a historian who researches genealogy for law firms. He reveals startling news that questions everything that Ruby had believed to be true. There is a family wartime mystery waiting to be uncovered and it is necessary to do so because the future of the house depends on it.
Ruby is worried and quite rightly so that Jake will take away the home that she has known for all her life and there are too many memories for this to happen. I won’t specifically say what brought Jake to the house but it does throw a different slant on things and delving back into the past reveals many surprises. Ruby goes on a very interesting journey which shows how complicated love is and how it can bring people together but also cause so much anguish and pain. I was a bit wary of Jake at first because I felt he had his clients interests at the centre of everything that he did which naturally he was going to do because after all he was getting paid to find out something and prove whether it was true or not. But I was on Ruby’s side and given the recent trauma she has been through and now that she is facing monumental decisions and challenges I wanted him to be real and genuine and to help her not go against her. Slowly over time they work together to discover the truth of the past and how it has a forbearing on Montpelier House and how it has led them to this point in time.
The strand of the story set in the past during World War Two was as captivating as intriguing as Ruby’s in the present. The journey to integrate the two strands was seamless. Clara is our female protagonist and we first meet her in 1939. She resides at Montpelier House with her mothers Alice and Marissa. Alice is a photographer and Marissa an artist. They are what I would call alternative but the love for their family unit is there in abundance. Clara was an incredible character. A young woman so ahead of her time. She knew what she wanted when it came to her career and with the outbreak of war she wanted to put her love of flying to good use and would let nothing get in her way of achieving many things. She went against convention and was not someone to be stuck at home doing her war work by knitting and supporting the troops. No she wanted to be up in the skies and although women were not allowed into combat and couldn’t join the R.A.F, the A.T.A (Air Transport Auxiliary) was just the place for her. I loved how she always kept pushing forward and wanted to prove that women could do just as much as men and even better in some cases. She was a heroine, stylish and a strong and charismatic young woman who loved fun and adventure with such a fantastic work ethic.
In the present as Ruby delves back into Clara’s history it was like she took on a mythical quality but this didn’t feel contrived at all. I adored Clara as a character but I felt her weakness was when it came to matters of the heart. Two men catch her eye both for very different reasons. One quite close to home and the other an American who arrives to try and join the R.A.F. The friendships and closeness that develop between Clara and the men individually weren’t in your face or rushed and at all times she out her career and helping to win the war at the forefront of everything she did. I felt she was under pressure to choose one or the other and she just wasn’t ready for that kind of commit given the circumstances but whether she ever would be was the big question. Here is where the author shows the complications of love and commitment and how the both the heart and head can struggle. There is a tangled web that emerges around Clara which impacts significantly on what Ruby and Jake are trying to uncover in the present. There is mystery, love and tragedy here in abundance and all with family at its centre. I really loved this book and really think it was a step up from the first book in the series and needless to say this very much can be read as a standalone story although it was lovely to see Zosia pop up briefly every now and again. I would definitely recommend this one, Clara and Ruby will both find a place in your heart.
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