The Shadow Year Hannah Richell

The Shadow Year  Hannah Richell

Overview:

On a sultry summer’s day in 1980, five friends stumble upon an abandoned lakeside cottage hidden deep in the English countryside. For Kat and her friends, it offers an escape; a chance to drop out for a while, with lazy summer days by the lake and intimate winter evenings around the fire. But as the seasons change, tensions begin to rise and when an unexpected visitor appears at their door, nothing will be the same again.

Three decades later, Lila arrives at the same remote cottage. With her marriage in crisis, she finds solace in renovating the tumbledown house. Little by little she wonders about the previous inhabitants. How did they manage in such isolation? Why did they leave in such a hurry, with their belongings still strewn about? Most disturbing of all, why can t she shake the feeling that someone might be watching her?

The Shadow Year is a story of secrets, tragedy, lies and betrayal. It’s a tale that explores the light and dark of human relationships and the potential the past has to not only touch our present, but also to alter our future.

'An engrossing and clever tale' (Anita Shreve)

Hannah Richell instantly draws you into her story: powerful, real and memorable (Elizabeth Noble, author of Things I Want My Daughters to Know)

The past and present storylines are deftly woven and equally engrossing, while the atmosphere of unease builds and builds, and lingers way beyond the last page. Brilliant (Emylia Hall, author of The Book of Summers)

Seen from the perspectives of the two women, The Shadow Year is a slow-burning drama, with several mysteries furled tightly inside one another, and only gradually are the layers allowed to unravel ... Jodi Picoult has been mentioned as a comparative author in terms of commercial fiction that centralises family and domestic matters, often with some sort of underpinning tragedy as a catalytic force, but Richell does a finer job at just about everything. She's an astute storyteller and knows exactly how to reel in readers and keep them hooked (THE AUSTRALIAN)

Hannah Richell is undoubtedly skilled at creating characters that are so believable your heart aches for them. (GOOD HOUSEKEEPING 2013-07-01)

The gift of a remote cottage offers Lila respite form grief and a rocky marriage. But her life is irrevocably bound up with its former occupants. Powerful and emotive. (WOMAN & HOME 2013-07-01)

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And Blessed Are The Ones Who Care For Their Fellow Men!