Book Club: The Secret Heiress

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Author: Luke Devenish
ISBN: 9781922052155
RRP: $29.99

The Secret Heiress is an historical novel set across two distinct timelines a generation apart in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. It is an Australian novel and I must admit to finding the look back at our country in that time period fascinating.

I am quite lost as to where to start this review, and how to continue it for that matter. There are so many dark and twisted roads to travel, so many suspenseful turns and possible explanations that it would be easy to unwittingly add spoilers and I would really rather avoid that.

I read an advanced uncorrected proof thanks to Simon & Schuster which has a letter from author Luke Devenish to readers of the proof. It tells us a little of the inspiration and gives a little background. Summersby House is a fictional mansion at the heart of the story but it was inspired by real houses Devenish visited.

In 1886 young Ida Garfield is employed by the elegant Miss Matilda Gregory to begin work at Summersby House but before she can start the news reaches her that Miss Gregory has passed away. Not on to be deterred from a path that seemed heaven sent Ida attends the funeral hoping that someone will still want to employ her at Summersby House. By all accounts Ida isn’t a bright girl, all the brains went to her younger sister Evie and the money Ida will earn in service will go to furthering Evie’s education; what Ida lacks in brains is more than made up for with inquisitiveness. She asks many questions and is always trying to learn new things, I think she is brighter than she’s given credit for and it’s just that hers is a different type of bright.

Ida attends the funeral, hoping someone will still want her at Summersby. Samuel Hackett, fiance of the late Miss Gregory, expresses the need for a housemaid – and a friend. She heads straight to Summersby to begin her duties as housemaid.

Summersby is not at all what Ida was expecting; for such a huge house it is extremely understaffed and that is only the beginning of the odd happenings.

the secret heiress

The reading of the late Miss Gregory’s will uncovers a secret deception and brings home the rightful heir to Summersby House, her twin sister Matilda. Things started to get a little twisty here. The two Miss Gregorys were Matilda and Margaret, and it seems this second will states that the deceased Miss Gregory was really Margaret, and Matilda has been incarcerated since the death of her father. A situation that is quickly rectified with Matilda returned to Summersby with her ladies maid Miss Aggie Marshall.

The second timeline in 1903-1904 sees young Biddy Macbryde, an imaginative storyteller, lose her employment with the Reverend Flowers. Her storytelling gets her in too deep one time too many and with no family to return to she sets off aimlessly in need of a new plan. A plan that sees her end up at Summersby House and eventually employed as a companion.

Flicking between timelines is quite well spaced and with both storylines based in Summersby House you find yourself with questions and answers from opposite times which is quite intriguing in itself.

The whole situation with Matilda and Margaret got a little too much for me at times, I couldn’t work out who was who and who we were supposed to be referring to. I was sure there were a couple of instances that the incorrect name was used, and put it down to the fact that my week has been pretty all over the place so could be my headspace or it could be because I was reading an ARC.

The Secret Heiress is intriguing and engaging from start to finish. I had to keep reading to find out what was really going on through it all. There were hints dropped but they weren’t always clear at the time and you needed to continue to find where the pieces fell together.

There is deception on deception and it continues to raise more and more questions about who was in on what, and who was deceiving who.

I loved the intrigue, I loved the twins and the way they were integral to the story. I love Biddy, who is a fanciful storyteller with a story for every occasion yet abhorred dishonesty and lies, always wanted to get to the bottom of a situation and uncover the truth.

There are twists upon twists contained in this book so I’m hard pressed trying not to spoil it. There were some elements of the story I guessed early on  but the bulk of it really did hit me from left field, or left me wondering how on earth that could possibly be because it didn’t match up with what I thought because of something else that had happened.

The characters are well drawn and three dimensional in the moment but there’s not a lot of back story – which is exactly how it needs to be to continue the intrigue.

The look at the time, and the town and the setting is glorious. I can’t believe that in a small town where gossip abounds all of this managed to go on right under their noses, but that was addressed in the beginning by the sometime cook Mrs Jack when she said they were a law unto themselves up at Summersby House.

The Secret Heiress is an interesting, engaging, vivid and twisted historical look at the dark goings on in Summersby House and I would recommend it to all.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster 30 of our Beauty and Lace Club Members will be reading The Secret Heiress so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments.

The Secret Heiress is available from April through Simon & Schuster, Booktopia, Angus & Robertson Bookworld and where all good books are sold.
You can find Luke Devenish on his website at: www.lukedevenish.com

32 thoughts on “Book Club: The Secret Heiress

  1. Thank you so much everyone for taking such time and care to put down your thoughts about my The Secret Heiress. It was absolutely wonderful to read them all – even those from members who didn’t enjoy it as much as they (and I) might have hoped. But thankfully for me, most of you seemed to have enjoyed it very much, which warms the cockles of my heart.

    I was especially delighted to see so many nice comments about the ‘twists and turns’. There’s few things I love more in a mystery story, so it was always my hope to give that same pleasurable experience to readers. I was also delighted that so many enjoyed the ending.

    This was a hard book to write at times, I will confess, but it was also very rewarding in the end. I put a lot of love into the characters, particularly Ida and Biddy. It took me nearly four years and three drafts, mostly done in bursts during consecutive summers, but also written on trains (I commute a lot), and in stolen moments at work when I should have been answering emails and doing other dull things.

    Those who found the plot confusing in a couple of places might be amused to know that my first draft was considerably MORE confusing. The lovely ladies at Simon & Schuster were very tactful about it. Wisely, I did my best to simplify things. It was always my plan for the twins to be a bit bewildering, however. I wanted the reader to feel as lost as Ida does in places. Sounds like I succeeded there 😉

    Thank you all again. This is certainly a very vibrant and passionate book club.

    Luke

  2. Being a lover of both Australian and Historical fiction, i found myself eagerly awaiting to read this novel and with a title like ‘The Secret Heiress’ I knew it would also be a mystery. I like novels that move between characters but I have to admit at times this was a difficult story to follow. It wasn’t a novel you could put down and easily come back to later. I found myself rereading bits to follow the story line. Hence why it took me a while to get through it.
    This was a book with many twists and turns and some very odd characters. It definitely gets interesting though about halfway through and actually made me want to read on till the end.
    I’m glad I actually persevered. Thank you Beauty and Lace for giving me the opportunity to read this novel.

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