5 Star Review: The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

Kate Morton is one of my favorite authors, as I've mentioned before on the blog.   It's been 3 years since she last published a book, so her latest book, "The Clockmaker's Daughter," was one of my most anticipated books of Fall 2018.  And, I'm happy to report that it did not disappoint, as it's one of her best.

The publisher actually declined my request for an early copy on Netgalley, which disappointed me.  However, I recently discovered that if you recommend a book on Overdrive (the website/app used by the Westchester Library System for e-books) before they have purchased the book, as soon as the Westchester Library System acquires the e-book, you'll be automatically placed on the waitlist for the book.  So luckily for me, this worked out and I was the first on the waitlist, and was able to borrow the book this past Tuesday, the day it was published!  And yes, I know, I could have just bought the book if not.  But it just offends my sensibilities to pay $14.99 for a book, particularly an e-book, and especially when I have such a ridiculously large backlog of books to read.  But I digress.

So, back to the book, which I absolutely loved!  Kate Morton might be the best author in one of my very favorite sub-sub-genres, the modern gothic set in a crumbling mansion.  She definitely takes the gothic to the next step in this book, as instead of just a slight hint of possible supernatural, one of the POV characters is a ghost!  I know that sound a little crazy, but it really worked.  And even if you don't generally like supernatural fiction, if you like historical fiction, I think you'll still like this book.

The book's main character in the present day is Elodie, who works as an archivist in London in 2017, and stumbles across a drawing of a mansion on a river which feels strangely familiar to her, and ends up setting out to find out more about the drawing and other possessions found with it.  The other main character is the ghost who haunts that mansion, who alternately reveals her backstory in the 1850s and 1860s in a way no different from any non-supernatural multi-period historical fiction, as well as sharing observations of the people who pass through the house while she is in her ghostly state.  There are also sections about various different characters who pass through the house at some point in the years between the 1860s and 2017.  There are several mysteries, both about the ghost's identity and how she became a ghost, as well as a murder that happened in the house, and lots of good surprises as well.  I also really enjoyed how different characters turned up in minor roles in other character's stories.  I don't want to reveal too much about the plot, because watching it unfold is half of the fun.

And, as always with Kate Morton's work, the writing is beautiful, the settings are so vivid, and the characters come to life.  This was a long book, but I seriously couldn't put it down.  I loved it, and highly recommend it!  If you're already a Kate Morton fan, I think you will love it too.  And if you've never read any of her books, they are all stand-alones, so you can definitely start with this one, and know that you're in for a treat with her other 5 books as well if you like this one.