The Distant Hours (Kate Morton)

On the same trip to Costco wherein I picked up The House at Riverton, I also bought another Kate Morton book, The Distant Hours.

Reading this book was reminiscent of Ysabel...not that there are any time-travelling characters or anything overtly Gothic, yet the overarching feel of the book is Gothic. It's a modern book, and the flashbacks only go as far back as WWII, and yet, it is unquestionably Gothic in genre. I was fascinated by how this feel came across, even in the absence of anything overtly Gothic. Very intriguing.

The lead character, Edie, is intrigued by the Blythe sisters of Middlehurst Castle where, it turns out, her own mother was billeted during the war. Feeling very distant from her mother, Edie wants to learn more about her through her interest in the castle, but in the meantime discovers that the castle holds many secrets of its own, about the family that has owned it for generations.

Although not a challenging, intellectual read, this book is an enjoyable and well-written novel.