large stone house in Gloucestershire. Her task: to fill a greenhouse with exotic plants from Kew Gardens, to create a private paradise for the owner of Shadowbrook. Yet, on arrival, Clara hears rumours: something is wrong with this quiet, wisteria-covered house. Its gardens are filled with foxgloves, hydrangea and roses; it has lily-ponds, a croquet lawn - and the marvellous new glasshouse awaits her. But the house itself feels unloved. Its rooms are shuttered, or empty. The owner is mostly absent; the housekeeper and maids seem afraid. And soon, Clara understands their fear: for something - or someone - is walking through the house at night. In the height of summer, she finds herself drawn deeper into Shadowbrook's dark interior - and into the secrets that violently haunt this house. Nothing - not even the men who claim they wish to help her - is quite what it seems."
I had such high hopes for this book. A period novel with lonely women, ghosts, gothic houses and reclusive men. It sounded like Jane Eyre with botany, something I was all for. But I got absolutely nothing.
It does some things well. A main character that has a disability and is different and she stayed clear of the “this girl has a disability so she must be sweet and lovely” trope which I was grateful for but apart from that this book just did not quite know what it wanted to be. Completely all over the place. If I wasn’t so incredibly bored I could perhaps gather up some disappointment. This book is confusing and plotless from start to finish and there is nothing gothic about it at all.
A promising start with a beautiful and atmospheric description of the protagonist's childhood and mourning of her mother. But all this promise petered out with a weak middle and was absolutely destroyed by the many pointless and unearned revelations at the end. The ending was truly abysmal with plot holes galore and absolutely nothing making sense.
House of glass turned out to be less of a ghost story and more of a tale of loss and lies. Strangely, the plot spiralled into an odd half-baked romance that seemed to belong to a whole other story. By the time I read the last page, I just ended up feeling drained and sad.
There were some beautiful lines and sentimental moments that were truly memorable, for sure. The author took a lot of creative liberties with her grammar, which can be effective when done properly. As I said, there were many beautifully written lines. However, she did it a little too often for my taste, and sometimes for no reason at all. Many sentences just seemed incomplete.
Overall a deeply disappointing read.
Age Rating 16+. Some surprisingly sexual and violent scenes.
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