Title The distant hours : a novel / Kate Morton.

SRP 2013 REVIEW: complex story with a historical view

SRP 2011 REVIEW: A long lost letter lures Edie to a castle. home of the Blythe sisters where Edie's mother was sent as a child evacuee during WWII. Very good story with lots of twists and unpredictable turns.

This story ties together the secrets of the elderly Blythe sisters living in their eerie ancestral castle; a woman who as a child during WWII was evacuated from London to stay with them; and the woman's daughter, a publisher who is now doing research on the story of The Mud Man, a tale written by the Blythe patriarch. As the young researcher studies his work and the story, the history and mystery of the family begins to unravel. The story evolves at a very slow pace, but kept me interested a long ways in. About 3/4 in I started getting cranky because the plot was creeping so incrementally, but I was too far in to stop. The end of the story was SO SLOW to reveal itself as to be maddening. If you like "dark and stormy night" stories with a historical mystery twist, and don't mind them unfolding at a snail's pace, this book may interest you.