The House At Tyneford

The House At Tyneford by Natasha Solomons – 355 pages

Book Blurb:

It’s the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlor maid in England. She arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay, where servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn. But war is coming, and the world is changing. When the master of Tyneford’s young son, Kit, returns home, he and Elise strike up an unlikely friendship that will transform Tyneford-and Elise-forever.

My Review: 2.0 stars

This is a book that really tells you what is happening rather than giving the reader the opportunity to learn, question, and read between the lines, and in my opinion, the ending was expected based on the blunt foreshadowing of it. The story had greater potential in my mind though I loved learning about the English countryside. The romance was evident however I felt little connection between the characters involved. I read this book only a week ago while out of town and computerless and sadly, there is very little I can recall about the novel now.

Quotes I liked:

Photographs are so strange; they are always in the present tense, everyone captured in a moment that will never come again. We take them for posterity, and as the shutter blinks we think of the future.”

– “His arm brushed mine, but I was too tired to obey decent etiquette and did not push him away. His skin felt so warm, and I wondered that in all her lectures upon proper behaviour, Anna had failed to mention that behaving improperly was much more fun.”

– “A man who has experienced great sorrow, and then has known its end, wakes each morning feeling the pleasure of sunrise.”