Welcome to the blog tour to celebrate the release of Kathleen McGurl's historical novel, The Secret of the Chateau, today on May 15th by HQ Digital.
Everything is about to change…
1789. Pierre and Catherine Aubert, the Comte and Comtesse de
Verais, have fled the palace of Versailles for their château, deep in the
French Alps. But as revolution spreads through the country, even hidden away
the Auberts will not be safe forever. Soon they must make a terrible decision
in order to protect themselves, and their children, from harm.
Present day. When Lu’s mother dies leaving her heartbroken,
the chance to move to a château in the south of France with her husband and
best friends seems an opportunity for a new beginning. But Lu can’t resist
digging into their new home’s history, and when she stumbles across the
unexplained disappearance of Catherine Aubert, the château begins to reveal its
secrets – and a mystery unsolved for centuries is uncovered…
My Thoughts
With alternating chapters, you follow the narratives of two stories, one set at the time of the French Revolution and the other in present day France. As you pick up the threads of each timeline, there is no confusion, so deftly is this novel plotted. There is plenty of historical detail about the life at Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI and the tensions between the ordinary French people and the aristocrats where certain levels of society felt that they had a divine right to the lion's share of the riches of the country. When you travel forward in time to the group of friends who decide to emigrate to France and to settle in the Chateau, you can see that the prosperous retirees have no difficulty in finding their own niche in the French society.
You can see attitudes to bringing up children in both storylines. Catherine Aubert copies the approach of the aristocrats she meets in the French court and largely hands her son over to the servants. You see how her thoughts about this develop. The children of the ex-pats have grown up but you discover the importance they have to their parents even in adulthood. There are some interesting plotlines and situations throughout. I did guess the secret of the chateau but that did not detract from my enjoyment of this historical novel.
In short: A dual timeline contrasts life in a French chateau over the centuries.
About the Author
Kathleen McGurl lives in Bournemouth with her
husband. She has two sons who have both now left home. She always wanted to
write, and for many years was waiting until she had the time. Eventually she
came to the bitter realisation that no one would pay her for a year off work to
write a book, so she sat down and started to write one anyway. Since then she
has published several novels with HQ and self-published another. She has also
sold dozens of short stories to women's magazines, and written three How To
books for writers. After a long career in the IT industry she became a full
time writer in 2019. When she's not writing, she's often out running, slowly.
You can read my rebiew of these books by Kathleen here:
Thanks to Kathleen McGurl, HQ Digital and Rachel of Rachel's Random Resources for a copy of the book and a place on the tour.
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Thank you so much for this review and for being a publication day blogger!
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