A Place of Secrets

by Rachel Hore

[Leah]

As a child, Jude Gower suffered from terrible nightmares, nightmares that featured her running through a forest desperate to find her mother. Years later, her six-year-old niece is having the exact same nightmare, and Jude is desperate to find out how and why. When Jude, a successful auctioneer specialising in 18th century books and manuscripts, is asked to value a collection of manuscripts as well as some scientific objects belonging to 18th century astronomer Anthony Wickham, she can’t wait to begin to decipher the mysterious world he lived in, and escape London for Norfolk to be closer to her sister Claire and niece Summer. As Jude begins to untangle Anthony Wickhams’s life, she discovers some frightening similarities to the dreams she suffered as a child and with which Summer is now suffering. But what connection does Jude have, if any, to Anthony Wickham and Starbrough Hall where he lived? And who is the mysterious Esther Wickham who appears to be an adopted daughter of Anthony, but isn’t recognised by any of the present Wickham family members?

Although I have heard of Rachel Hore’s novels, I’ve never actually gotten around to picking up one of her books. Mainly because I’m vaguely aware of the fact that most of her novels involve history of some sort and, to be frank, I don’t like books that delve into any sort of history; it’s just not my thing. However, I received a copy of her new novel A Place of Secrets and I thought it sounded incredibly intriguing. Yes, the blurb mentions history and astronomy, which made me wary, but on the whole it sounded like my kind of book. I then heard it had been picked as one of Richard & Judy’s Book Club picks and knew I would have to read it, and I began it in earnest not knowing what to expect!

A Place of Secrets encapsulates many different things inside its 456 pages. There are supernatural aspects to the novel, there is the mystery of the Wickham family which Jude tries to untangle, and there is quite a lot of historical elements thrown in to the book, too. It’s a very complex novel, that’s for sure, but once I got my bearings with the many different characters, I found it fairly easy to remember everybody. Rachel Hore has managed to weave such a magnificent story and I don’t even know where to begin so I can wax lyrical about this great novel. My synopsis above is the story in a nutshell but there is so much more depth to it that I couldn’t ever do it justice. It’s truly the kind of book you need to read to fully understand just how each separate story twines together to make one massive story.

As well as being very impressed with the main crux of the story: Jude’s untangling of the Wickham family history and her niece having the exact same nightmares she herself had as a little girl, I was also hugely in awe of the historical elements presented by Hore. As Jude works through the manuscripts of Anthony Wickham, an 18th Century astronomer, she happens across the story of a girl named Esther Wickham, alleged adopted daughter of Anthony but who appeared to be wiped out after Anthony died. Esther’s story then appears alongside Jude’s as Jude transcribes Esther’s memoir and I got completely involved in that side of the story. I was entranced by Esther’s way of words and I could very clearly imagine her going out with her father, Anthony, to gaze at the stars. It really captured my attention and imagination and although I loved Jude’s story, too, I was always eager to get back to Esther’s life story.

I really quite liked Jude. It’s clear early on that not only did she used to suffer the same nightmares that now plague her niece Summer, but she has also had a bit of tragedy in her life after her husband Mark passed away. She was easy to like and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her. She really helped to make the story and I hoped she could eventually get over her husband’s death. I found the whole Wickham family incredibly enchanting. It felt as if I personally knew Esther and Anthony, despite both of them being dead for years and years and as for the present Wickham family, I liked Chantal the head of the family the best. Another fairly enchanting character was Jude’s grandmother Jessie. She had quite a story to tell and I liked how it unravelled and I was looking forward to fully understanding why she had so much guilt around her. I wasn’t quite taken with Jude’s sister Claire. Her rivalry with Jude was strange and I just wished that she would spit it out because she spent the majority of the book being snipe-y. Finally, we have Euan, a local who lives in the cottage where Jessie used to live and whom Jude becomes close to, I liked him a lot and the growing relationship between himself and Jude was great to witness.

I had absolutely no idea what the connection was between all the differing stories and I wasn’t sure if we would ever learn where Esther had come from and what had happened to her, but thankfully all was explained. It was quite astounding how it all came together and all suddenly made sense and you’ll need your wits about you to keep up, that’s for sure. Rachel Hore is a fantastic writer, and deserves all of the plaudits her previous books have received. I really really enjoyed reading A Place of Secrets, and I’ve surprised myself with how good I thought it was. Anyone who likes well written fiction will love this and the central mystery of it all keeps you hooked through out. I will with absolute certainty be getting myself the rest of Rachel’s books, and I can’t wait to get stuck into them all. Hopefully they’ll all be as fantastic as A Place of Secrets.