Publishers Weekly
06/24/2024
Grey (The Glittering Hour) delivers a fervent upstairs-downstairs drama set against the backdrop of WWI. At Coldwell Hall, Kate Furniss works as a housekeeper under a false name, having fled her abusive husband. She keeps a low profile until the arrival of Jem Arden, who’s taken a job as a footman to find out what happened to his younger brother, Jack, a former servant who disappeared at Coldwell during a shooting party there years earlier. Relationships between staff members are forbidden, but Kate and Jem’s mutual attraction overwhelms them, and they embark on a secret affair. After the death of patriarch Sir Henry Hyde, the estate passes to his son, Randolph, whose self-serving valet discovers Kate’s true identity, prompting her to flee without alerting Jem. The consequences of the pair’s forbidden romance are teased out in letters written by Jem, now a soldier, on the eve of the Battle of Somme in 1916. In them, he professes his love for Kate without knowing where to reach her. Meanwhile, Kate works as a housekeeper near Brighton and volunteers at a convalescent hospital for soldiers. Grey’s insightful narrative sheds light on ways in which the war “jolted out of their “torpor,” as one former Coldwell servant puts it, opening new opportunities for factory work and military service. This will keep readers turning the pages. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"Downton Abbey gets a dark and delicious twist...haunting and heart-rending...Readers will breathlessly wait to learn the fates of Kate and Jem in this fabulous story." - Bookpage (starred review)
"A fervent upstairs-downstairs drama...Grey’s insightful narrative sheds light on ways in which the war 'jolted [Britain’s servant class] out of their 'torpor,' as one former Coldwell servant puts it, opening new opportunities for factory work and military service. This will keep readers turning the pages." - Publishers Weekly
"Moving from the heartbreak and terror of the Western Front, to the closed, deeply atmospheric below stairs world of Coldwell Hall, this brilliantly researched and beautifully written novel had me captivated from the moment I read its intensely moving opening pages, not letting me go again until I tearfully turned the last. I rooted for Kate, fell completely in love with Jem, and will hold their unforgettable story close for a very long time to come." - Jenny Ashcroft, author of Island in the East and The Officer and the Spy
"A wildly atmospheric and impeccably researched gothic romance, The Housekeeper's Secret will stay with you long past the final page." - Diana Biller, author of Hotel of Secrets
"I adored it. So evocative and emotive, as Iona's writing always is, immersing me in time and place. So rich in detail and emotion. I was so invested and the ending caught me by surprise. I couldn't stop reading until I'd raced to the finish line. I hungrily inhale everything she writes and devoured it in about two days." - Lorna Cook, bestselling author of The Hidden Letters and The Forgotten Village
"Rich in atmosphere and brimming with intrigue, The Housekeeper's Secret is not to be missed! Ms. Grey’s unforgettable cast characters and vivid historical details coalesce to create a beautiful tapestry of a story that transports the reader back in time. It’s a story of love, redemption, and finding one’s place in the world. A story that's at once both timely and timeless." - Amanda Skenandore, award-winning author of The Nurse's Secret
"Iona Grey's The Housekeeper’s Secret is a luscious novel, with a spellbinding plot told in gorgeous writing. Cancel your plans. You won’t want to put this one down." - Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of All the Days of Summer
"This beautifully-written historical is a sumptuous, page-turning delight filled with an enticing mix of forbidden romance and buried secrets. A must read for fans of Downton Abby.” - Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook
