The London House
An uncovered family secret sets one woman on the journey of a lifetime through the history of Britain’s WWII spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris in an effort to understand her past, save her family, and claim her future.
One call could bring ruin to her family name.
Caroline Payne thinks it is just another day at work when she receives a call from Mat Hammond, a doctoral candidate, who has uncovered a dark and scandalous family secret: her British great-aunt defected to the Nazis to marry her German lover.
The letters tell a different story.
In search of answers, Caroline flies to London to search her grandmother’s diaries and her aunt’s letters. In them she discovers the “Waite girls” and a time of peace and luxury in the interwar years that is beyond anything she ever imagined. But the buoyant tone quickly changes as the sisters grow older, fall in love with the same man, and one leaves home to join the glamorous art scene of 1930s Paris—all amid the rumblings of war.
But history won’t let its secrets go so easily.
The more Caroline learns, the more questions she has. Together Caroline and Mat work to dig out answers, uncovering stories of spies and love, of family rifts, and of one fateful evening in 1941. Will the truth they uncover heal the decades-old family wounds, or will they tear the family even further apart?
Reviews
“In this story of war, deception, and absolution, we find also a tale of sisters, love, loss, and all of the unspoken things in between. A history of heroism and tragedy unfolds bit by bit through letters that illuminate the past and change everything one woman thought about her family—and her own journey forward. Carefully researched, emotionally hewn, and written with a sure hand, THE LONDON HOUSE is a tantalizing tale of deeply held secrets, heartbreak, redemption, and the enduring way that family can both hurt and heal us. I enjoyed it thoroughly.”
— Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars and The Book of Lost Names
“A woman searches for the truth about the disappearance of her ancestor in the spellbinding latest from Reay (Dear Mr. Knightley)…Reay’s fast-paced foray into the past cleverly reveals a family’s secrets and how a pivotal moment shaped future generations. Readers who enjoy engrossing family mystery should take note.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Expertly researched and perfectly paced, The London House is a remarkable novel about love and loss and the way history—and secrets—can impact a family and ultimately change its future. With its beautifully drawn characters, compelling present-day story, and evocative diaries and letters from the past, Katherine Reay paints a vivid picture that pulled me in with every page, desperate to know what would happen next. I loved it!”
— Syrie James, bestselling author of The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen and The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë
Library Journal. Reay, Katherine. The London House. Harper Muse. Nov. 2021. 368p. ISBN 9780785290209. pap. $17.99. F
Reay’s (Of Literature and Lattes) latest is a complex portrait of a family torn apart by secrets. It covers multiple threads, from the brave women spies in World War II to perspectives on history to the ways in which trauma stops people from accepting the love that they are offered. Caroline Payne is in her late 20s, and the accidental death of her sister 20 years ago and the disintegration of her family loom over her relationships even as she returns to Boston to be near her dying father. A surprise call from an old flame, who’s writing a history article, reminds Caroline of her long-dead British great-aunt, whom the family had disowned for being a Nazi collaborator. Caroline impulsively travels to London to the house her father grew up in, where she reads letters and diaries that bring to life her grandmother and great-aunt, the vivacious “Waite girls.” She learns that the shame of Nazi collaboration that overshadowed her family for 80 years is not quite what it seems. VERDICT For readers who enjoy novels featuring courageous women in World War II. Reay explores the uncertainty of history and how trauma can be carried across generations, but makes clear that it’s never too late for redemption.
—Jan Marry, Heritage P.L., New Kent & Charles City, VA
