I loved this book and got totally lost in it, from the first few pages. The author has an easy, flowing writing style which drew me in and made this novel a perfect summer holiday read. The four sisters - Flora, Pam, Margot (the narrator) and Dot - are well-drawn and individual. I also enjoyed the more contemporary story of Jessie and Will moving to Applecote from London. I have read quite a few books where a couple move from the city to the country, but this one is particularly successful because of the quality of the writing. I didn't want this book to end and would love to read more by this author.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley

This book is slow to start and if you'd have told me 25% in that is be giving in four stars, I wouldn't believe you!

Persevere! It's worth it :)

I like books with two different timelines, I like mystery books and I like books that end properly. This book delivered.

The reason I didn't give it five stars, is because I wasn't overwhelmed by the 'current day' story. The story in the past was far more engaging and the merging of the two was also really good! But Jessie, the lead in the present, I just didn't like her. I was keen to get back to Margot in the 50s

I was sold on this book by the fact that it was a dual timeline mystery described by Lisa Jewell as ‘The most beautiful book you will read this year.’ I have to admit I felt a little let down as I started it; this book has been described as ‘beautiful’ and ‘evocative’ but I found the writing a little too flowery when it wasn’t necessarily needed. It took me a little while to get into the story as I took time to adjust to the tone of voice, but once I did I found a strong plot which took me by surprise.

At the centre of the story is Applecote Manor, a grand manor in the Cotswolds. In its time it was a pristine picture of elegance, but in present day it’s crumbling and dilapidated. The story follows two timelines and shows what one house can mean to two different people. In present day, Jessie sees the mansion as a fresh start; a chance to escape the bustling city life of London and build a life with her new family. In the summer of 1959, Margot and her three sisters also escape the city for a summer in the countryside, when they are sent by their mother to live with their aunt and uncle.

It was the period part of the novel which I really enjoyed, and I have to admit I found that Jessie’s chapters dragged at times. Margot’s chapters combine a coming of age tale with a sinister mystery, and the backdrop of Applecote at its finest really works. Margot’s voice as an insecure young girl was authentic, and the lavish prose helped bring the bucolic British summer and the hint of dark mystery to life.

This novel didn’t quite capture me the way I wanted it to, but it did grow on me. I think it’s the sort of book and genre I might have loved a couple of year ago, but my tastes have changed. It’s a rich, well-told story which incorporates elements of gothic mystery, coming of age and modern domestic drama. It reminded me a little of Kate Morton, and I’m sure it’s one plenty of people will love.

Opening with a body being moved by characters we are yet to meet, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde begins with a mystery and what follows is a beautifully written book with gothic undertones.  It spans two time frames; the heat wave of the summer of 1959 when Margot and her sisters, beautiful Flora, inscrutable Pam and shy Dot visit their Aunt and Uncle at Applecote Manor, and the present day when Jessie, her husband Will, their infant daughter Romy and Will's troubled teenage daughter Bella move to the Cotswolds from London for a fresh start.
For Margot and her sisters this is the first time they have visited Applecote since their cousin, Audrey went missing 5 years earlier.  Their Aunt and Uncle have become different people in the intervening time period and the girls are awkward around them and uncomfortable that Audrey's bedroom is being kept as a shrine to her.  In 2017 Jessie, too is troubled by the bedroom at the top of the house which features a bed fully made up and evidence of a recent fire in the hearth.  Struggling to connect with her step-daughter Bella who is pining for her dead mother Jessie sets about making Applecote into a family home, carefully curating a perfect lifestyle on her social media.
The two stories blended perfectly together and really complemented one another.  The story of Margot and her sisters was beautifully written and had a gorgeous dreamlike quality. Some of the descriptive passages were wonderfully evocative with whole paragraphs bringing the heat, haze and lust of the summer of 1959 to life;
"There is a trail of crushed grass behind them, like the tail of comet"
"Today there is a breeze but it's warm and wet, like a lick"
Margot was a wonderful protagonist, unsure of her position as one of four sisters she is thrust into an unforgettable summer of discovery and jealousy.  Each sister had a very distinctive voice and Margot and Pam's sisterly jealousy of Flora's beauty and impending adulthood seeped from the page.
The story set in the present day was just as intriguing.  Written just as beautifully as the tale of Margot and her sisters, it is very modern in both style and tone.  I particularly loved Jessie and Will's relationship, how they met, fell in love and the trials and tribulations of their relationship.  Bella's defiance, teen arrogance and grief was well executed; never clichéd or trite her story was well-rounded; her obsession with Audrey's disappearance forging a bridge between the present and the past.  Both Jessie and Margot's stories were given equal weight, both had their own mysteries and intrigues and both were exceptional.
I really loved this book, it had me hooked from the first page.  I loved the contrast of the present and the past, the gothic undertones, the mystery, the strong women and the glimpse into the past.  Much like The Companion, this book's most evocative character is a house; Applecote Manor is a house holding secrets and history and ready to uncover the past.

Nineteen fifty-nine. The four Wilde sisters, Isla, Violet, Maggie and Dot, are spending the summer in the Cotswolds, at Applecote Manor. Affectionately called the Wildlings, the sisters are exceptionally close, yet this year there's a sense of nostalgia. Things are changing.

Except for Applecote itself, a house that seems frozen in time. The sisters haven't been there in five years; not since their cousin Audrey mysteriously vanished.

But as they discover Applecote's dark secrets and new temptations, the sisters begin to grow apart. Until the night everything spirals out of control and the Wildlings form a bond far thicker than blood.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would be keen to read more by Eve Chase. I found it a compelling read and read it very quickly. The story is set in two time periods - the 1950s and present day - and focuses on two different families who live in Applecote Manor. It is quite dark at times and definitely has a gothic feel - I could really imagine the house and grounds from the descriptive text.

I don't want to give away any spoilers but would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes a thriller or good mystery.

Thank you to Net Galley, the publisher and author for an advance copy in exchange for my honest book review which I've also posted on Goodreads..

This is an amazing split narrated book. At first I wasn't sold on the 'current day' story, but eventually it was my favourite part. The story was wonderfully told, with interweaving 'current day' and 'past' events. Loveable characters and even if the end was not necessarily surprising, there were lots of details that made this a perfect 5 star. I highly recommend this book.

I was very excited to read this fantastic book. What an incredible and compelling book. Very beautiful descriptive writting by a great author. I enjoyed both present and past stories making one great read. I would highly recommend this book to others. I found this book hard to put down and exciting.
I am very thankful to NetGalley for this opportunity.

Loved this book, so well written and seamless between the past and the present.

A was surprised how much I enjoyed this.
To be honest I don't usually go for books that aren't modern day settings, but this one set part modern day and part historically - but all in one country home caught my imagination and I enjoyed it.

Some great characters particularly the 1950's teenagers, and it was interesting to see how life was different for teens in those times.
Covering a whole host of issues this was a haunting read.
Unusually for me it was definitely the 1950's part of the book that I enjoyed more, the modern day parts didn't quite sit right and felt a bit convoluted.

Thank you to Netgalley for an early read - I will be looking out for future novels by this author that I hadn't come across before.

This book has two stories, but it is never confusing, and they inter twine neatly, and join completely for the final chapter.
In the 1959 story we have four sisters; and unusually, but perfectly, we get to know them all as distinct characters, all rounded people, no caricatures. I have not given 5 stars because I thought the rapid improvement in Sybil was a little unrealistic. Also, I have read too many books where the 'move to the country' didn't go as planned and one character spends a long time commuting back to the city so I thought that was frustrating and perhaps the plot could've been though out more to get Will out of the way.
There is also a twist at the end that I didn't see coming. Overall, this is a great read, it romps along and is very well written. I will definitely look for more books by this author.

Thank you first to Netgalley for introducing me to a new author. This is a family drama, with dual narration (which works very well indeed), with the drama happening in both the 1950s and present day, the settings for both being Applecote Manor a large house set in rural England.

The title of this book is not terribly inspiring, and the cover less so but as I read it as an ebook this was not too relevant.

The two periods were well defined and in each case believable, but, although I enjoyed the book immensely, I felt that the book could have stood just as well as a historical family drama and that Jessie and her broods' trials and tribulations could have been padded out to make another, separate novel.

The descriptions and the dialogue were vivid and evocative of both the periods. The story moved along at a favourable pace and I most certainly got caught up in the late 1950s which I found far more compelling. There were twists and turns and intrigue that drew me in from the outset. I will certainly be on the look out for more novels by Eve Chase.

This is a really enjoyable dual time-frame novel that skilfully blends both parts to a satisfying conclusion. For once I enjoyed both the parts set in the present day with Jessie and her blended family coming to live at Applecote Manor, and the parts set in 1959 with the enchanting Wilde sisters and the mystery of the disappearance of their cousin Audrey. The novel is not a thriller but has unexpected and thriller-ish bits within it with romance, adventure and family story intertwined to make a good read with an ending that ties up all the loose ends.

I did enjoy this, with a good ending (despite the occasional Mills & Boon descriptions and characteristics) - there was a moment in the middle I thought it might just be a copy of her first book and go a bit chick-lit, but it turned out much better than expected!

I am not always a fan of dual timelines, I have read some real gems but often it is very predictable. You know that there is a family mystery, somewhere along the line, and that once revealed is going to change the lives of those in the present.
What saves this book from a fate worse than predictability is that it is very well written and the characters are interesting and well developed. One timeline is set in 1959 when Margot and her three sister spend the summer with their aunt Sybil who five years earlier lost her daughter Audrey. Lost is the right word, as Audrey went missing and her body was never found.

The alternate chapters are set in the present with Jessie who moves to the same house, called Applecote Manor, where Sybil and her daughter Audrey lived in the past. Jessie is married to Will who was a widower and father to Bella. They also have a young daughter called Romy. This family dynamics are complex, Bella resents Jessie for having come to replace her mother, while Will misses his London life where all his memories are.

Bella who attends the same school as Audrey did many years earlier, find out that a tragedy happened many years ago and become obsessed with it. As 1959 was not so long ago, they are bound to meet someone who was alive when Audrey disappeared.

The chapters set in the 50s are particularly good, you get the atmosphere of what it would have been living in the countryside those days. Life was definitely slow. But you also want to know how the relationship between Jessie and Bella develop.

This is a beautifully written, evocative novel that takes us on a fascinating journey into the past, as it skillfully portrays the pastoral idyll, unhurried summer of 1959 and seamlessly weaves the intriguing story of a family of four girls (the Wildings) and their coming of age season.

As the story unfolds, it paints a portrait of the house where their cousin Audrey lived and went missing from (and where their mother sends the Wilding sisters for a memorable summer break) with a parallel account of its current dysfunctional occupants, who have problems of their own as they try to settle into their new home.

Because Applecote Manor is no ordinary home. It’s frozen in time, the scene of much sadness stemming from the sudden, unsolved loss of a beloved daughter, which tore a family apart and left lingering traces five years later.

Alternating timelines, narrated by Margot (a Wildling) and Jessie (the new owner of Applecote), gradually reveal what actually happened to Audrey as the action unfolds and the timelines begin to coalesce and merge together.

If you like to lose yourself in nostalgia for the past, enjoy a rattling good read centered around home and family, sisterly dynamics and drama, and an intriguing tale with a heartwarming ending, then this would fit the bill perfectly. I loved it!

Had high hopes for this book but I'm afraid it just wasn't for me, I found the narrative boring and didn't take the the lead characters, if it wasn't a trait I have to finish any bookI start I'd have given up with this.

This was an interesting book with the house central to the story and two stories overlapping across the decades. The story starts with 4 sisters dragging a body across the land in Applecote Manor in 1959, then we fast forward to the new present day owners of the manor, a new blended family with a stepmother trying her best to create a relationship with her teenage stepdaughter who is missing her deceased mother. As the story evolves we find out the sequence of events which led to the opener. The writing style was very descriptive and this is a coming of age story which focuses on the Wilde Girls journey into womanhood, whilst trying to solve the mystery of their missing cousin. I liked the writing style and enjoyed the unfolding of the story and solving of the mystery.

There's something about an old house, nestled amongst nature, that immediately conjures up an air of mystery. Applecote is the house at the centre of this story of love, jealousy, pain, innocence and desire. Told in alternating timelines, Jessie and her stitched together family have bought the house in the present; Margot's aunt own the house in the hot summer of 1959, but there is a shadow cast over everything by the disappearance of her cousin Audrey. Margot and her 3 sisters spend their final summer there and become embroiled in the mystery of Audrey.
This is easy to read and enjoyable. The descriptions of the house and gardens are vivid, and I liked the characters, particularly Margot, Dot, Flora and Pam. I found Margot's narrative to be the most interesting as the mystery of Audrey slowly unravels whilst the tension ramps up to the big reveal. That's not to say I didn't enjoy Jessie's part of the tale, although I did find Bella annoying! Typical teenager... The ending was satisfying and I liked how the two narrative strands came together. I'll watch out for the author's next book.

The Wildlings, affectionately called by their uncle Peregrine, are four sisters who spend the summer with their aunt Sybil and uncle Peregrine five years after the vanishing of their daughter Audrey. The story of the Wilde sisters is set in the 1950s with the descriptions of fashion and imagery of the era creating a vivid setting for the mystery novel. Margot is the one sister who cannot forget her beloved cousin and wants to find the truth. But, in order for her to do so, the sisters become bonded by blood.

The prologue, dated August 1959, ties in neatly with the end which is fifty years later. A family from London comes to live in Peregrine’s and Sybil’s abandoned house with their two daughters. They are a complicated family with a history of the tragedy of their own. Jessie is Will’s second wife, after tragically losing his first wife. Bella is Will’s teenage daughter and Romy is Will’s and Jessica’s toddler.

Bella and Jessica have a sense in the house that there is a tragic history. The house itself reveals hidden secrets until the truth finally appears. But is it the truth?

This book is an exciting page-turner with many interesting characters that have been well developed. I look forward to another book by Eve Chase.

BonnieK

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

This is the first book i have read by Eve Chase and definitely wont be my last. The story is haunting and very addictive. Glad i was on holiday to read in a couple of sittings. I love the way the book transported me to the 1950's, then back to recent years, the stories of families flowing together through lifes twists and turns. A must read, many thanks to Netgalley for letting me read this 📚