Olivia Davenport and her parents are due to travel on the inaugural sailing of RMS Titanic. However, the week before departure Olivia contracts measles and her parents travel without her. When the 'unsinkable' Titanic hits an iceberg and does sink, she is left an orphan. She goes to live with the Fairchild family at Merriford Manor. There she learned to cope with her loss, often withdrawing into her own vivid imagination. However, she is determined to live her life to the best of her ability and so she is a very positive, very fanciful and spirited young lady, who manages to provide inspiration to those around her.
The Fairchilds do their best to accomodate the young girl but they are a very different to her own family. Whereas her own parents were tactile and joyful, the four Fairchild boys know that they are loved but are never shown any affection.The family is very correct, very wealthy, very upper class.
One of the things that helps Olivia during this time is the voice on the other side of the wall. At first, Olivia and Seth annoy each other mainly because they are confused by the fact that they can hear each other but they can't physically see each other. They gradually look forward to the conversations that they have through the wall.
We see Olivia as she grows from a young girl into a young woman. We see her fall in love for the first time, and we see her dreams for the future.
As the years pass, World War I looms, and the Fairchild boys head off to war, one by one. Being wealthy does not protect young men from German bullets so, once again, Olivia faces unimaginable grief and tragedy. But this time, Seth is no longer on the other side of the wall, until one day he is back.
In time, they figure out that while their worlds are fundamentally the same, there are differences. In Seth's world, the Titanic did hit the iceberg but assistance came in time and the ship didn't sink, therefore Olivia didn't come to live at Merriford. It would have been easy to make the alternative history one where everything was bright and breezy, but the author avoided that. WWI still happens in the alternate history. It is still a terrible time of great loss but the outcomes were ever so slightly different in the other world.
Seth and Olivia rely on each other in many ways and realise that their feelings are growing, but with their two worlds being so separate and different, how can they be happy in the future.
This book is best described as genre bending. Is it a strong historical fiction story about the years between the Titanic sinking and post WWI England? Yes, it is. Is it also fantasy with the magical realism and alternate timelines? Yes, it is that too. Is it an unconventionally romantic story? Yes, it is. Regardless of how you want to label it, it is a compelling, well told story which tells of the traumatic effects of tragedy and war and the changes in society that it heralded.
This is the second Jenni Keer book I have read and I really like the way that she plays with genre and structure, and still manages to pull together all the different strands to make it a truly satisfying reading experience. I still need to read At the Stroke of Midnight and work through the rest of her backlist, but I will also be eagerly anticipating whatever she comes up with next
I am sharing this review with the New Release Challenge hosted by The Chocolate Lady's Book Reviews and the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge which I host. Be sure to check out other stops on the tour shown below. Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley and Rachel's Random Resources for the review copy.
Rating 4.5/5
About the bookThe House of Lost Whispers
On 15th April 1912, RMS Titanic sank and 1500 people lost their lives. But what if it had stayed afloat?
When the ill-fated maiden voyage of the Titanic leaves thirteen-year-old Olivia Davenport orphaned, she’s sent to live with her guardians, the Fairchilds, in their huge Jacobean mansion – Merriford Manor. But the Fairchilds have more to worry about than a grieving young girl – with war in Europe imminent and four sons to protect.
Olivia feels alone and friendless. That is, until she hears a voice from behind the wall in her tower bedroom. A voice from a man called Seth. At first she thinks he’s a ghost. But it soon becomes clear that he lives in an overlapping world that is just a shudder in time away from her own. A world where the Titanic never sank… And everything since has been just slightly… different.
All Olivia wants is to find a way into his reality. And not just to see the faces of her beloved parents once again. But also to meet Seth. Who might just be the love of her life…
An utterly unforgettable reading group historical novel, that is part romance, part gripping mystery, and part completely heartbreaking First World War historical fiction. Perfect for fans of Titanic, In Memoriam and Lucinda Riley.
Purchase Link -
https://mybook.to/HouseLostWhispers
About the Author- Jenni Keer lives in the glorious Suffolk countryside with her four grown up children, three demanding cats, but just the one husband. She is often frustrated by their inability to appreciate that when she's staring into space, she's actually working, and that watching television counts as research. Much younger in her head than she is on paper, she adores any excuse for fancy-dress and is part of a disco formation dance team.
Keer has written two contemporary rom coms and five quirky historicals, with two more due out in 2025.
The best-selling No. 23 Burlington Square (her 1920s sliding doors mystery) has now sold over 100,000 copies.
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