The Midnight Rose (Kennebec Large Print Superior Collection)

by Lucinda Riley

[Leah]

Lucinda Riley became a must-read author for me when I read her second novel The Girl On The Cliff. It blew me away, it was such an intricate, enjoyable story, and it even made me cry. Books don’t always make me cry, but when they do I know they were a good read. So I was super pleased to receive a copy of her new novel The Midnight Rose, although the sheer size of it made me gasp. Coming in at just under 650 pages, it’s one of the longest novels I’ve ever read, if not the longest. It may only be marginally smaller than a Harry Potter book! I was a bit concerned, I don’t read books that are mega long, just because generally they don’t hold my attention, but, actually, the only reminder of the sheer size of The Midnight Rose was the effect it was having on my thumb. It is now numb and I can’t feel it, and feel like I will never recover the feeling.

The Midnight Rose is quite the epic tale, but at its heart it is the story of Anahita Chavan, who at the grand old age of 100 knows that time is running out for her. She will soon be joining her contemporaries in heaven, or the Indian equivalent, and so she entrusts in her great-grandson Ari the tale of her life, asking him that, when he is ready, he will try and find out what happened to her son, Moh. She was told he died at the age of three, but Anahita never really believed that, and when Ari rocks up at Astbury Hall, where Rebecca Bradley is busy filming her new movie, they both become embroiled in the tale of Anahita Chavan, and the Astbury’s. A tale that spans generations and contains many secrets which are about to come to the fore.

Lucinda Riley is one of the most accomplished storytellers I will ever come across, and reading her work again has reminded me again of how much I adore her writing. She really manages to suck you in to so many different stories, and in this case it was the two: Anahita Chavan’s story, which is immense. Set in India, and England, it spans such a long time and was so sumptuous and enjoyable, it’s not a part of life I know of, I very rarely read books set in different time periods to today, but I found myself drawn into Anahita’s story in such a way that I felt like I, too, was living it right alongside her. From her friendship with Indira, an Indian princess, to her life in England, and her life at Astbury Hall, I was so desperate for her to get a happy ending, and it was good to see that even at 100, she was still competent enough to be so wise and wordy. If I live to be that age, I would love to be just like Anahita. Then there was the modern day tale of Rebecca Bradley, famous actress, who has come to Astbury Hall to film her new movie and ends up digging into Astbury’s history, especially as the hall’s owner Lord Anthony thinks she’s the spitting image of his grandmother, Violet. There, she and Ari work to find out just what did happen to Anahita at Astbury, and what became of her son, Moh, and it is fantastic.

I totally admire Lucinda Riley. She managed to write a 650 page epic novel, and kept me enticed the entire time. I was never bored whilst reading The Midnight Rose, and I kept wanting to go back to it and read more, and more, and more. It was fascinating. It had so many wonderful strands and it all unfolded in such a delightful way that I couldn’t get enough. I adored getting to know the characters, and I loved learning more about a time that I don’t really know about, and it was yet another novel partly-set in India, which I’m learning to love more and more with every book I read. I would love to visit and see if these palaces still exist today, because they sound magnificent. The sheer volume of the novel may scare people off, but it’s absolutely worth its weight in gold, Lucinda Riley really does give you good value for money and I loved every page. It was superb, and I admire Lucinda Riley for pulling it off, she is just an amazing storyteller, and I can’t wait for her next book!