Friday, February 15, 2013

What Kate Morton book should I read 1st?



I have heard so many great things about Kate Morton's books and really want to try one this year.  I would like you to help me choose.  Please participate on the poll, seen on my sidebar.

Here are the descriptions of Kate Morton's works below. For the audio book lovers, she has peaks of her reading chapters.  You can also download free chapters.

All the info on the books below I took from her website here, it is dynatime, I'm impressed.

Thank you for the recommendations.

 

The Forgotten Garden

A lost child...
 
On the eve of the first world war, a little girl is found abandoned on a ship to Australia. A mysterious woman called the Authoress had promised to look after her - but the Authoress has disappeared without a trace.

A terrible secret...

On the night of her twenty-first birthday, Nell O'Connor learns a secret that will change her life forever. Decades later, she embarks upon a search for the truth that leads her to the windswept Cornish coast and the strange and beautiful Blackhurst Manor, once owned by the aristocratic Mountrachet family.

A mysterious inheritance...
 
On Nell's death, her grand-daughter, Cassandra, comes into an unexpected inheritance. Cliff Cottage and its forgotten garden are notorious amongst the Cornish locals for the secrets they hold - secrets about the doomed Mountrachet family and their ward Eliza Makepeace, a writer of dark Victorian fairytales. It is here that Cassandra will finally uncover the truth about the family, and solve the century-old mystery of a little girl lost.


The Distant Hours


Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon

with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.

Evacuated from London as a thirteen year old girl, Edie’s mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Milderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters and their father, Raymond, author of the 1918 children’s classic The True History of the Mud Man.
In the grand and glorious Milderhurst Castle, a new world opens up for Edie’s mother. She discovers the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, the dangers.
Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle, she, too, is drawn to Milderhurst Castle and the eccentric Sisters Blythe.  Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancé in 1941 plunged her into madness.
Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected.
The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time
for someone to find it.

The House at Riverton 

Within its four walls lay a secret that would last a lifetime.

Summer 1924: On the night of a glittering Society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, onetime housemaid of Riverton Manor,is visited by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long-consigned to the dark reaches of Grace’s mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge; something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

The Secret Keeper


1961: On a sweltering summer's day, while her family picnics by the stream on their Suffolk farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel hides out in her childhood tree house dreaming of a boy called Billy, a move to London, and the bright future she can't wait to seize. But before the idyllic afternoon is over, Laurel will have witnessed a shocking crime that changes everything.

2011: Now a much-loved actress, Laurel finds herself overwhelmed by shades of the past. Haunted by memories, and the mystery of what she saw that day, she returns to her family home and begins to piece together a secret history. A tale of three strangers from vastly different worlds--Dorothy, Vivien and Jimmy--who are brought together by chance in wartime London and whose lives become fiercely and fatally entwined...
 

22 comments:

  1. I've never read one so I can't really say but I've heard great things about her books.

    BTW, have you been streamlining your look? It looks great.

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  2. I haven't read any of them but The Forgotten Garden sounds the best to me.

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  3. I've read The House at Riverton and loved it but I read alot of reviews where readers felt it was just ok. I disagree - I thought it was great. I have The Distant Hours on audio but haven't listened yet. I'm planning to read The Forgotten Garden this summer and I can't wait! It has my vote!

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  4. I've only read the Secret Keeper and enjoyed it. Whatever book you choose, I hope you enjoy it!

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  5. I also loved The House at Riverton, I kept thinking about it long after I'd finished it...always a good sign!
    I listened to The Distant Hours and really enjoyed that as well, but not as much.
    I've also got The Forgotten Garden to read, but not sure when I'll get round to it, it does look a fab read.

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  6. I've heard great things about The Forgotten Garden, I need to read this author one day too :) Happy reading!

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  7. I haven't read it, but I voted for The Secret Keeper. It has caught my eye before.

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  8. I've only read Secret Keeper so that's the only one I can recommend. I will be interested in your poll results so that I can also decide which to read next. :)

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  9. I've only read The House at Riverton but I really enjoyed it! I've got two of her other books on my shelves...I just need to find the time to read them!

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  10. I have no idea which to start if I were you. But I guess either one you start would be great. ;p

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  11. I would highly recommend The Forgotten Garden because it is amazing! (I'm biased as I haven't read any other except The House at Riverton which was okay for me) Forgotten Garden has a lot of fantastical elements to it, so if that's your kind of thing, go for it. It's wonderfully written!

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  12. I'm a little OCD, so I'd read them in order.

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  13. I just read The Secret Keeper. There were ups and downs for me, but a major twist at the end makes it ALL worth it!

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  14. I'm interested to see the results since I want to read Morton for the first time too :)

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  15. I've read them all!! I love her. This is the order i recommend.
    1. The Forgotten Garden
    2. The House at Riverton
    3. The Distant Hours
    4. The Secret Keeper

    ahhh, just love her so...she fits a certain mood just right!

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  16. I have recently discovered Kate Morton! I started with the 2nd book first (Forgotten Garden) because GoodReads recommended it to me after I search for similar books to Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. However I wish I read House at Riverton first, because Forgotten Garden was better than H@R...

    I am currently reading Distant Hours. If you want, check out my reviews of the 2 on my blog :)

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  17. I loved The Secret Keeper! I'll start reading The Forgotten Garden rightaway :-)

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  18. I loved The Secret Keeper! I'll start reading The Forgotten Garden rightaway :-)

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  19. I just got finished reading The Lake House and I’ve got to say..........REALLY???? COME ON!!!!! It was a too, “as if”. I LOVED the secret keeper!!

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