When Jen goes to her grandmother's house for the last time, she's determined not to dwell on the past. As a child, Jen adored Lily and suspected she might be a witch; but the spell was broken long ago, and now her death means there won't be any reconciliation.
Lily's gone, but the enchantments she wove and the secrets she kept still remain. In Lily's house, Jen and her daughter Marianne reluctantly confront the secrets of the past and present - and discover how dangerous we become when we're trying to protect the ones we love.
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[By the time we get off at the station, I'm so tired and disoriented that nothing feels real. The judder of my suitcase wheels as we cross the broken asphalt of the car park shivers up the handle, into my hand and through my body. We've been in continuous motion for almost eleven hours]***
(Legend Press, 15 October 2016, copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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Oh boy, I was not expecting that.
I thought Lily's House was going to be quite light-hearted based on the simple title and rather pretty cover. I was lulled into false expectations.
Lily's House ends up being much darker than I was prepared for. Brilliant but quite dark.
I loved the way the author handles Jen and her daughter's grief about Lily's death. This came across as quite realistic and is painful to read at times.
I liked the way the novel is structured interweaving current events as Jen sorts out her grandmother's estate with flashbacks to the past of Jen's life and memories of Lily.
I knew something was off about Jen's husband Daniel from the start. His behaviour is obsessive and possessive, texting her constantly, wanting to know where she is every second, freaking out if he doesn't hear from her for a few hours, always needing reassurance from her and making grand statements about how he couldn't live without her. Some might see this as signs of how much he loves her but I found it disturbing. When the truth about their marriage is revealed I was gob-smacked.
I thought Lily's House was brilliant.
