Review: Ashenden

Ashenden: A Novel by Elizabeth Wilhide

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When brother and sister Charlie and Ros discover that they have inherited Ashenden, the beautiful eighteenth-century English country house steeped in their family history, they face an important decision: Do they try to keep it or do they sell it?

In a beguiling narrative spanning two and a half centuries, we meet those who have built the house, lived in it, loved it, and those who would subvert it to their own ends. The walls of Ashenden echo with the lives of the architect who directs the building of the house in 1775, the wealthy Henderson family in their heyday, the maid who is tempted to solve her problems by stealing a trinket, the Jazz Age speculator who hosts a fabulous treasure hunt, the prisoners held there during World War II, and the young couple who lovingly restore it in the 1950s.

With upstairs and downstairs storylines intertwining to form a rich tapestry, Ashenden is an evocative portrait of a house that is a character as compelling as the people who inhabit it.

--My review. Well this one took me awhile. But it picked up about halfway through and then as time went on, I was amazed at how much the house actually brought to the table! Maybe in the style of the ever popular Downton Abbey, or Upstairs, Downstairs... I really like some of the people!

This book really was a lot of fun, the different people. I really adored the cover as well. It was very deep at times and the different situations. Not a book that was lighthearted. And the story wrapped back up with the brother and sister! Bravo!

I received a copy of this book from the first reads program in exchange for my honest opinion.



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