Theodora knows she can't keep her five beautiful daughters at home forever-they're too curious, too free spirited, too like their late father. And so, before each girl leaves the small house on the riverside at the foot of Mount Olympus, Theodora makes sure they know they are always welcome to return.
A devoted and resilient mother, Theodora has lived through World War II, through the Nazi occupation of Greece, and through her husband's death, and now she endures the twenty-year-long silence of her daughters' absence. Her children have their own lives-they've married, traveled the world, and courted romance, fame, and even tragedy. But as they become modern, independent women in pursuit of their dreams, Theodora knows they need her-and each other-more than ever. Have they grown so far apart that they've forgotten their childhood house in its tiny village, or will their broken hearts finally lead them home?
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[Silence. After the lightning lit up the landscape, nature waited for the thunder to shake it, to make it's wildness felt]***
(AmazonCrossing, 1 November 2017, Kindle First)
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Oh God, I'm glad I finally finished this book. I really didn't get on with it at all. This is the first Kindle First book I've disliked. I was lured in by the nice cover.
I'll start off easy by detailing what I liked about the book. The cover is nice and I liked the title. The blurb is interesting. That's it folks!
The House by The River is all over the place. It takes place in the 1950's yet so much of what happens (women fainting at the drop of a hat, arranged marriages, dowries etc) made it feel set in a much older era. I thought at first, I was reading historical fiction so when I worked out the when of the novel it threw me a bit.
I didn't like any of the sisters. They do not come across as realistic at all, and read like cardboard cut-outs of each other. They are all spoiled, insipid and bored with their lives. I was damn bored reading about them. This doesn't come across as remotely realistic. There are also the rather dark sex scenes scattered throughout the novel which I found sort of creepy.
The writing style is not good. I found it long-winded to the point of tedious. The books just went on and on and on and on and fricking on for like a zillion years. My hair turned white and all my teeth fell out by the time I finally reached the end.
