Planning for a new future without her husband, Kate has run away with her young daughter Heather. Changing her name to Rachel, she intends to hide out at an isolated old manor house, where she is to be caretaker for the new owner in their absence. But they are not as alone as she first hoped, with two elderly women living in a nearby cottage. And soon the company she is housesitting for announces that more people will be moving in. With the story also flashing back to a narrative set in 1926, slowly the history of the house’s previous occupants and Kate’s trauma are revealed. With a tightly woven and unpredictable plot, it makes for an engrossing read.
The Snow Rose, by Lulu Taylor, is about a woman on the run from her past. The summary says: "I suppose Rory and I will divorce at some point, when I've got the time to think about it and the strength to tackle the dreary admin it will involve. The house. The division of money and belongings. What will happen to Heather.
He's not taking her away from me. It's what he wants. It's what they all want.
I know they think I'm not fit to look after her. My mother thinks it. That's why I won't see her either, or my sister. They're in cahoots with Rory, all of them scheming how to get her away from me. That's why I have to escape them while I can, while I still have the opportunity . . .
Kate is on the run with her daughter, her identity hidden and her destination unknown to her husband and family. She's found a place where she and Heather can be alone and safe, a huge old house full of empty rooms. But it turns out she's not alone. There are the strange old ladies in the cottage next door, Matty and her blind sister Sissy. How long can Kate hide Heather's presence from them? And then the newcomers arrive, the band of eccentrics led by the charming and charismatic Archer. Kate begins to realise that she is involved in something strange and dangerous, and the past she's so desperate to escape is about to catch up with her ..."
The Snow Rose is out in December 2016.