- Started: February 22, 2021
- Finished: February 23, 2021
- Pages: 382
- Multiple POV, Timeline Jumps, UK
- Rating: 4.25/5
REVIEW
Just from reading the inside cover I had a pretty good idea of how this book was going to go. I was wrong on one point, but had the rest right. That’s not to say the book felt predictable reading it, just that whoever wrote the inside cover gave too much away. The author did a good job of creating backstories that made sense. I completely understood the motivation of the characters as they were going about their lives, even if I also saw why they were wrong. But we don’t get an insight into the inner workings of those around us so our actions don’t always make sense. It could be quite frustrating. I liked the way the book ended – I had imagined a much darker scenario – but still thought the final bit of action seemed abrupt. Overall I enjoyed the book and will add a few last thoughts after the spoilers.
SUMMARY
Jocelyn, who goes by Jo, moves back to her family’s estate in the United Kingdom with her daughter, Ruby, after her husband dies. She harbors mostly negative feelings towards the estate, Lake Hall, mostly due to her strained relationship with her mother, Virginia. Jo and Virginia constantly butt heads, mostly over how Ruby should be raised. Things reach a new level of contention when a skull is discovered in the lake behind the house. Jo and her mother find themselves facing off against each other and the secrets of their pasts. The books switches between the two women and the detective looking into the case, as well as jumps between the present and the years leading up the death.
SPOILERS BELOW
Part One
Jo is not happy to be back at Lake Hall. Her only good memories from the home were with her nanny, Hannah, who abruptly left one night. She blames her mother, a woman with whom she has never had a strong relationship. Jo fears her mother will be equally oppressive to her daughter, but finds that her mother and Ruby become fast friends. Ruby is an adventurous ten year old and she and Jo are out exploring the Lake Hall grounds when they discover a skull. Jo immediately wonders if it could be Hannah and that seems to be the case as Virginia frets over the discovery. She worries about how Ruby will view her when the truth comes out. The detective, Andy Walton, has a HUGE chip on his shoulder and feels that Virginia must be involved somehow due to her wealth and standing in the village. Jo is shocked to open the door one day only to be greeted by Hannah who has recently come back into town and wanted to say hi. She is overjoyed by their reunion and looks forward to making up for lost time. Virginia is shocked when she sees Hannah’s calling card in Lake Hall.
All the while, we are transported to the 1970s where a woman named Linda is a cleaner. She ran away from an abusive home and lives with another woman, Jean. Linda works for a rich family who also employs a nanny to take care of their twins. Linda is jealous of both their wealth and the poise with which the nanny holds themself. When one of the twins dies, Linda learns that the father of the baby had a sister who recently passed. Linda decides to take her identity – Hannah Burgess – as a wake to escape her father. She runs off with Jean, excited to start fresh.
Part Two
Virginia decides to investigate Hannah and realizes that she truly is the woman that was employed as Jocelyn’s nanny so many years ago. This is an even more frightening thought, and she wonders what Hannah’s true intentions are. Virginia is still at a loss as to how Hannah survived her fate. Jo, on the other hand, is delighted by the reappearance of her nanny, and reminisces on their time together. Jo is also overwhelmed with her new job and balancing it the responsibility of taking care of Ruby. She is hired by an old family friend, Faversham, in an art gallery and is tasked with researching the provenance behind art for a potential buyer. Her mother admonishes Faversham for hiring Jo and wishes that she would not work. Hannah begins dropping by more and begins acting as Ruby’s nanny. Virginia is upset with this new plan, insisting that she is capable of taking care of her own granddaughter. Jo thinks things are running smoother now that Hannah is back in their lives.
Virginia reflects on her love affair with her husband, Alexander, who recently passed and whom she misses dearly. She also recalls the night they thought Hannah died, the way they moved her out of the house and into the water. Hannah confronts her one day when they are alone and demands money for her silences. She claims to have a tape where Alexander admitted to trying to cover up her death and that he had been paying her off through the years. Virginia agrees to the blackmail on the condition Hannah leaves their lives. Hannah refuses. Virginia gathers money by seeking out old art in a banker’s box which her best friend, Elizabeth, will copy and Faversham will later sell as the real deal. This is why Virginia did not want Jo to take this job – it would involve her in the family’s criminal proceedings.
Ruby does not care for Hannah one bit, a fact Jo cannot understand one bit. Hannah begins to insinuate herself further into their lives, dispensing parenting advice and correcting Jo on her shaky memory. Jo is so happy with her help that she invites her to move into Lake Hall when Hannah laments that the home she is letting will no longer be available. She hides this fact from her mother until the last possible moment; Virginia hates the idea and informs Jo that Ruby said Hannah had been pinching her. Jo confronts Ruby who denies it (after she did tell her grandmother it was Hannah), but Jo still questions what happened. She begins to suspect it might have actually been Virginia after a lost memory of her mother grabbing her arms reappears in her mind’s eye. Ruby, even with the denial of abuse, complains about Hannah and claims that her grandmother provides enough care. Jo is exasperated with her daughter, who has become more sullen and sluggish, but attempts to grant her grace as she understands Ruby is dealing with a lot of grief and change. Jo gives none of the same grace, however, to her mother upon learning about the art forging scam. She is furious that she would be included in a scheme, even unknowingly.
Back in the late 1970s, Linda has adjusted well to being Hannah and takes on a job as a nanny. She is more interested in the father than the children, and takes to pinching the elder boy when he acts out. She starts an affair with the husband and begins to imagine life if she was the lady of the house. The wife is a hippie artists who doesn’t seem to care about her husband’s comings and goings and freely drinks and pops pills for inspiration. Meanwhile, Jean gets married and moves out, the two losing touch when Hannah moves on from her nanny post after the wife dies; Hannah searching for a better man and family. She finds a new job working in a market and does some part time work for a family. She despises the child under her care and holds his head underwater when he doesn’t obey. She is in London when an exhibit for the late artist who she worked for catches her eye. She shows up and is introduced to the Holts by her former employ. She is excited by their wealth and is immediately taken by Alexander.
THE REVEAL
Part Three
Back in the 1980s, when Jocelyn is a toddler, Hannah already begins manipulating her emotions and relationship with Virginia. She purposely engineers a situation in which she knows Jo will be frightened, ensuring she is in her mother’s arms and not her own. Hannah is walking in town one day with Jocelyn when she runs into a down-on-her-luck, Jean, drunk on the side of the road. She tried to avoid her old roommate but is recognized as Jean begs for some change.
Virginia is continually stressed by Hannah’s integration into their lives and fears that she will harm Ruby. Jo, on the other hand, leans even more heavily on Hannah, even admitting to the art forgery scam. Ruby, like her grandmother, does not care for Hannah’s presence at Lake Hall and tells her mother she saw Hannah take Alexander’s cigarette case from his study. Jo refuses to believe this; it was one of her father’s most prized possession and an important family heirloom. Hannah, now apprised to the art forgery, confronts Virginia about it and demands a share of the profits.
Back in 1985, Jean again confronts Hannah, this time asking for a job at Lake Hall. Hannah acquiesces and walks Jean back to the estate, but the strangles her and leaves her body in the lake. It is around this time that cops realizes the skull belongs to one Jean Grace Palmer.
Jo blinders to Hannah begin to drop when she discovers an old picture of her as child. Jo recalled the blue dress she wore on the night Hannah disappeared but Hannah had insisted it was green. The picture confirms Jo was correct and she realizes that Hannah has often been relying on Jo’s “faulty” memory since they reconnected. She takes her investigation one step further and find her father’s cigarette case in Hannah’s room. She cannot understand why her beloved nanny would lie to her.
It becomes apparent shortly when she finds Hannah and her mother in the late Alexander’s study. There, Hannah plays her blackmail tape: Jocelyn had pushed Hannah down the stairs so many years ago. She had walked in on Hannah and her father and attacked her nanny in her ire. Virginia and Alexander thought she was dead, but she was merely knocked out and swam to safety after they dumped her in the lake. Hannah, angry that Jo thought she wasn’t good enough for her father and the general treatment she received, is back and seeing revenge. Jo is gobsmacked at the revelation that no one – not her father, her mother, or her beloved nanny – was who she thought they were.
Virginia is distraught that the truth is out but feels even more emboldened with her plan to protect her family. She confides in Jo that she had been stockpiling her pain medication (and that she suspects Hannah had been drugging Ruby with it) and hopes they can use the extras against Hannah. Jo is disgusted by her old nanny and feels absolutely hopeless due to the blackmail and the way she has become an important part of their lives. Hannah demands a fancy dinner where they can hash out their plans for the future of the art forgery and the mother and daughter begin the arrangements.
Jo goes to her mother as they are preparing as she doesn’t have the appropriate attire. They share a moment of getting ready together and reflect on the fact it is the first time they have done so. Jo begins to wrap her head around the full magnitude of Hannah’s destruction. As if on cue, Hannah arrives and paws through the closet, going on about her affair with Alexander and the power she holds over the family. In a rage, Jo grabs a plastic bag and suffocates her, this time killing her for good. They are both stunned and take the body back to the lake, Virginia taking control of the situation and a shell-shocked Jo. She reminds her that they need to look after Ruby and act quickly so she doesn’t catch them. The slit Hannah’s stomach so the gases can escape and she doesn’t rise to the surface, knowing the police will never look to the lake again for a body.
The police arrive, asking to speak to Hannah, having learned it was an alias and that she was connected to Jean before she died. They claim she again left in the night and the police assume it was to evade arrest over the murder. Ruby is over the moon to be rid of Hannah and to be under the care of her grandmother again. The novel ends with Jo instinctually recoiling from her mother’s touch before going in for a hug, now aware of how deep her mother’s love has always run.
As I mentioned, from the inside cover I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. I did, wrongly assume, that Hannah was dead, but figured that Virginia had covered up the murder to protect Jo – the true killer. I was also very worried, once I got more into it, that Hannah was going to more a more overt attempt on Ruby’s life and Virginia would sacrifice herself to prevent it. I am very glad it did not go that way. As the book went on and I read more of Virginia’s perspective and saw through Hannah’s lies, it was a bit distressing of the wedge she was able to create between this family. I know it’s a work of fiction but the thought of spending so much of your life resenting and hating your mother for no reason seems devastating.
This book reminded me a bit of The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth. It also details the story of a similar relationship between two women and through their different voices, you begin to sympathize more for both characters.
Books and Lewks 