NetGalley Buddy Readers discussion

On a secluded bluff overlooking the ocean sits a Victorian house, lavender with gingerbread trim, a home that contains a century’s worth of secrets. By the time Jane Flanagan discovers the house as a teenager, it has long been abandoned. The place is an irresistible mystery to Jane. There are still clothes in the closets, marbles rolling across the floors, and dishes in the cupboards, even though no one has set foot there in decades. The house becomes a hideaway for Jane, a place to escape her volatile mother.

Twenty years later, now a Harvard archivist, she returns home to Maine following a terrible mistake that threatens both her career and her marriage. Jane is horrified to find the Victorian is now barely recognizable. The new owner, Genevieve, a summer person from Beacon Hill, has gutted it, transforming the house into a glossy white monstrosity straight out of a shelter magazine. Strangely, Genevieve is convinced the house is haunted—perhaps the product of something troubling Genevieve herself has done. She hires Jane to research the history of the place and the women who lived there. The story Jane uncovers—of lovers lost at sea, romantic longing, shattering loss, artistic awakening, historical artifacts stolen and sold, and the long shadow of colonialism—is even older than Maine itself.

Enthralling, richly imagined, filled with psychic mediums and charlatans, spirits and past lives, mothers, marriage, and the legacy of alcoholism, this is a deeply moving novel about the land we inhabit, the women who came before us, and the ways in which none of us will ever truly leave this earth.

Shruti and I are reading this one for another book club - to be completed by 6/20

(just figured I'd give us a spot to write notes so we don't forget our thoughts! lol)

thank you!

I'll be following your thoughts on this one!

3ch / ~20%

A bit slow to launch but i’m getting into it now.

(view spoiler)[
I really don’t like Genevieve. The thing with the graves plus the way she used an indigenous artifact as a prop is giving me the ick.

The Clementine reading made me much more invested in Jane. I wonder what she did at the gold club or if D recognized her because used to hang out on that property.

(hide spoiler)]

Wow, long chapters
and I don't know what I was expecting with this one but this wasn't it!! lol

it's interesting but weird so far, right?! Slow burn for sure!

3 chapters

Genevieve(view spoiler)[ oh my gosh, she is just gross right? Those graves! I almost dropped my kindle. That was so horrifying! and yeah, the basket - again, just ick.
scary about that moment with Benjamin though? and him losing it after he couldn't see the girl. yikes! (hide spoiler)]

Jane (view spoiler)[ I'm not sure what to make of her either. The drinking, the mistake the ruined both her marriage and career. That's tough - it's a tough spot to be in but yikes, of her own making maybe? although it must be hard to have just lost her mom too! what a tough relationship they had

but who is D? and why the weird message?

and yikes - pregnancy and the singing by grandma. what was all that about? (hide spoiler)]

Just noting:

I think:

Genevieve - Paul - Benjamin
Jane - David - Holly - Allison - Clementine

Trying to keep these storylines straight lol

such a slow burn! and way too many characters that we barely even see

7 chapters / 46%

I'm finding this a disjointed slog

(view spoiler)[
Marilyn - Daisy - previous owner

I don't have much tie to either Holly or Jane so their long winded chapters about going through mom's stuff and reliving some memories is just eye-wateringly boring to me. I really hope you are enjoy this more than me

I'm glad Jane is researching for Genevieve
but I thought for a moment this was making a good statement about colonialism and the treatment of Native Americans
but then we got side tracked again with Marilyn and her daughter's tragic story

so now there's no mystery - we know Genevieve heartlessly removed the graves like a soulless jerk and the daughter's message was really for Marilyn, though I'm not sure she'll get it
(hide spoiler)]

we're not even half way and I have no idea where this story goes next

it's not a mystery, it's not really a story about one family's drama - it's all over the place lol I wonder where we wander next.

10 chapters / 74%

oooh man. it's not getting better

(view spoiler)[ it's still a slog

although, on its own, I found Eliza's story interesting, I don't think - again - that it meshes well with the story
I can't tie themes or genre to this one - to me it feels all over the place

and we, the reader, already knew Genevieve moved the graves. we already knew it was horrific and awful
I'm not sure what meeting Eliza and knowing it was the babies and her that were just tossed out like they were nothing
and also the previous owner's daughter

I did find the retreat interesting but I agree with Jane. So much grief in the room, it could definitely feel exploitative if you weren't sure you believed (hide spoiler)]

I'm done

it never improved

(view spoiler)[ meh. we already knew about the affair. it wasn't a huge shock it was her grandma
the story was so meandering, went off on so many different spokes for no reason (hide spoiler)]

2 stars, yikes!

I had this on hold at the library but decided to cancel the hold after seeing the 2 stars, lol.

finished last night finally. 2 stars from me too. sigh