My Rating: 4 stars
The Wildling Sisters is an atmospheric tale about the bonds of sisterhood and family set against the backdrop of a mysterious house with a dark secret. Told via dual narratives, the story's timeline alternates between the summer months of 1959 and the "present" setting a little over 50 years later. Both narratives are linked together by what I feel is truly the main character in the entire story: the looming Applecote Manor in the English countryside town of the Cotswolds. In 1959, the teenage Wilde sisters Flora, Pam, Margot, and Dot are shipped off to Applecote Manor to spend the summer with their Aunt Sybil and Uncle Perry while their mother sought out a job opportunity in Morocco. Sybil and Perry lost their only daughter Audrey 5 years ago when the teenager disappeared one day without a trace – devastated, the couple cut off ties with the outside world and shutter themselves inside their house, clinging constantly to the hope that Audrey will some day return. In the present day narrative, Jessie and her husband Will want to move with their daughters -- teenager Bella and little two-year old Romy -- out of their home in London to a more idyllic, quieter place in the countryside in the hopes that it will give Bella – who is still trying to come to terms with the death of her mother several years ago -- a chance at a fresh start. Without knowing much about its history, Jessie and Will decide to move into Applecote Manor, the beautiful, sprawling country house recently put up for sale by the Wilde family. Soon, the past collides with the present when Jessie and her stepdaughter Bella start to dig into the house's secrets and learn the story of the previous owners' past, including that fateful summer of 1959.
I've been reading a lot of dual timeline books recently but this one definitely felt different. Despite the gap in timespan, the two narratives had a "continuity" about them that didn't make me feel like I was being taken out of one time period and placed in another. Yes, part of this has to do with the common setting of Applecote Manor as well as some of the characters from the past narrative still having some involvement in the present narrative, but I think a large part was also due to the writing, which had an atmospheric, elegant feel to it that was consistent in both narratives. The author Eve Chase captured the essence of time and place well, especially with the narrative of the Wilde sisters and their coming of age during those summer months alongside the mystery of Audrey's disappearance. Chase did a great job giving us vivid descriptions of the house and its surrounding area so as to make us as readers feel as though we were right there at Applecote Manor – in the past narrative, right alongside the Wilde sisters trying to fill up the long, idle days of summer with anything exciting and in the present narrative, right alongside Jessie and Bella as they try to mend their rocky relationship while also trying to make sense of their surroundings. What I appreciated most was that Chase was able to do all this without sacrificing characterization, as each of the characters in both narratives came alive for me and I found all of them quite endearing, despite their flaws. I also loved the way the author tackled the theme of sisterhood and family, showing the ups and downs of those relationships in a realistic way.
One thing to note is that this is more of a character-driven story (I'm including Applecote Manor as one of the "characters") than a plot-driven one, so the pace is a bit slow, which is a little ironic given that the story starts off with an absolutely attention-grabbing scene involving the Wilde sisters and something that happened at the end of their summer at the manor. After that initial scene, the rest of the story is a slow buildup to that day, as events unfold one by one in both past and present, until we eventually find out what truly happened. I actually felt this was a clever way to tell the story, but the "slow burn" aspect might be an issue for those who prefer a more action-filled plot. Also, I've seen this book categorized as "gothic", which I guess is true to some extent given the mysterious undertones and the haunting, gloomy feel to the setting, but this one wasn't dark or dreary like some of the classic gothic tales we may be used to reading -- this one had more of a lightness to it, which I appreciated. A lovely read that I definitely recommend!
Received ARC from G.P. Putnam and Sons via Penguin First-to-read program
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