I found The Hiding Place to be a slow burn mystery which takes place throughout multiple timelines which include 1964, 1991 and 1992. The story focuses on the lives of Marina, Connie and Eva.

I found the majority of the book to be really slow but once some of the major events started happening the pace picked up which made it a lot more interesting. I really enjoyed learning about each character and what each of them went through. It was interesting to discover who Marina really was and I liked the ending because I think it provided closure.

I recieved an advanced copy for free, and this is my honest opinion.

This thriller grabbed me from the first page! Quirky, rich characters drive a tale of identity, family tensions, and people who aren’t quite what they seem. The twists and turns kept me turning pages to find out how and why and the further you read the more addictive and nail-bitingly tense it all became. A great beach or pool read. Jenny Quintana is a crime/domestic thriller writer to keep your beady eye on.

Thank you to NetGalley for the the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review. This is the first book I have read from this author and I am ver impressed. The story follows 2 timelines 1964 and 1992.

In 1964 Connie Littleton is 17 and pregnant by her artist boyfriend but he left for Paris and she hasn't been able to tell him. In 1992 Marina Alexander rents a flat in the house where she was abandoned as a baby.

The characters in the book are great you get a real sense of them I raced through the book in a few evenings and cant wait to read more from this author. Highly recommend.

Amazing book that really puts your life, and the things you take for granted into perspective. This book truly impacted me, and I think it is one of the few that truly have. It shows you that even in the darkest of times, you can still be grateful, and blessings can be hidden. Miracles happen all around us, and this book is full of them.

This compelling book that will transport the reader into the lives of these people is a very interesting must read. It’s gives people better insight to what happened during the occupation and really humanizes all the struggles that Jews and non-Jews endured.

The Hiding Place was a completely different type of mystery novel. Split between the 1960's and 1990's, Marina tries to uncover the secrets behind her birth and why she was abandoned in the hallway of a shared house in 1964. She returns to the house, hoping to trace some of the previous tenants and uncover the secrets that have haunted her since finding out that she was adopted. This book was definitely a slow-burn rather than an edge of your seat thriller, but after reading several heavy psychological thrillers recently, it was exactly what I wanted to read for a change of pace. The mix of characters, both past and present, were really interesting and carried the story for me, keeping my interest the whole way through. In a way, it was kind of like a more sinister episode of 'Long Lost Family' (which is not usually the type of thriller I would lean towards), but the amount of detail, and the way the two timelines were woven together, made it a really gripping read.

My first time reading this author and was pleasantly surprised!

Marina was told that she was adopted by her parents and was abandoned in the hall of a large old house, that was made into flats.
She decided to go back to the house she was found and to see if she could find out anything about the people that lived there at the time she was found. What secrets will she uncover?
I like the way the book went from one time frame to another, without being confusing. It helped understand what had gone on. I had quite a few “wait!..... what?!” Moments .... which is exactly what I like in a book! Loved it !

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More of a gentle slow burn read than a thriller. There is a mystery element in the birth and deaths but I was expecting, from the blurb, something darker and faster paced.
A well-written novel though. Just not to my taste.

Having read and enjoyed Jenny Quintana's debut novel The Missing Girl, I must admit I was expecting more of a traditional mystery. Instead I was treated to a stunning a slow-burner of a novel set between 1964 and 1992.

In 1964 seventeen year old Connie Littleton is pregnant, her artist boyfriend has gone to Paris before she even knew.

In 1992 Marina Alexander visits the house where she was abandoned as a baby, the only clue to who walked through the open door and left her to be found, was the blue shawl she was wrapped in.

With a cast of characters that included armed robbers and bookshop owners this is a real character study with an underlying mystery that seems to have an obvious outcome. The characters had me entranced, vivid in both time periods even though I was sure I knew what the ending would hold, I had to keep on reading to find out for sure.

A book that I think will haunt me; for me the mark of a really good read.

The Hiding Place is an interesting book which goes between two time periods. I'm not usually a fan of books with that format but I liked this one. I thought it was well written and it held my attention throughout.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for my ARC.

The Hiding Place is one woman's search for her biological mother and another young woman’s need to reconnect with her boyfriend and share the news of their baby. This heartwarming story will make it impossible to put this book down.
The author tells the story from two viewpoints, Marina in 1992 and Connie in 1964. The two young women share their stories piece by piece until at the very end all the loose end are tied up and explained to perfection. I loved travelling through time with the author as she slowly unravels the truth and leads you to a very sad conclusion.
Marina was abandoned as a baby and her mother was never found by the police. Years later she is still trying to find out the truth about her origins. When a flat is available for rent in the house she was abandoned in she jumps at the opportunity and moves in. Living in the house where she was found, she discovers that the house and its tenants hold a lot of secrets. Driving her to uncover the truth. Will Marina finally find her mother, or will ….. Quip scare her off?
This tale draws you deep into the emotion of the characters. I rushed through this book eager to find out how it would end, and when the final page arrived I was sad that it had come to an end. This book digs deep and simply overflows with emotion.
Both Marina and Connie were beautiful creations. I have to admit my favourite was Connie. My heart broke for this young girl and all I wanted to do was lean in to the story and hug her, help her deal with all her problems and reassure her that it would be okay. Little Eva was just the sweetest thing, despite her issues as an adult, she was an adorable little girl and it was easy to understand Connie’s kindness to her.
This story was different from what I normally read, making it a refreshing change and extremely entertaining. I have to add this to my loved list for 2021.
Fan’s of women’s fiction will find this book gripping and moving
I highly recommend keeping some tissues at hand while reading this. It’s sad! Yet, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy! It is a wonderful read!

A good read,if not at times a slowish one
I liked the story set in the 90’s and liked it going from this time to the 60’s and liked the characters of Marina,Eva and Connie
It is a book of secrets and I felt more a family drama story rather than one of suspense etc
At times intriguing and others predictable it was all in all a good story

thanks to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.
. Excellent. A strange story but well told.

I enjoy reading books with different time periods, jumping between different people’s lives, and watching how they intertwine. The Hiding Place was no different. I loved getting to know Marina, Connie and Eva, learning about who they were as people and how their stories cross. It took me a few chapters to get into this book but once I did I was fully absorbed into the world of 24 Harrington Gardens. It held my attention, pulling me along with little effort. There were a few twists and turns that I didn’t expect - unusual for me but I really hoped for a very different ending, despite quite enjoying what did happen in the end. The Hiding Place is one of those books that I need more time to process, to remember, to say goodbye. I will miss Marina, Connie and Eva especially, and though some characters I am glad to see the back of, I wish that more could be explored. Though part of me knows it’ll never be how I wish it could be or how I hoped in the beginning.

This story follows Marina, as she struggles to find out the truth about her birth. It’s 1992, and she knows she was abandoned as a young premature baby, in a house in London. Despite a good upbringing with supportive adoptive parents, she needs to know where she’s come from.

As she follows the trail, and completes her own investigations, the story jumps to the 1960’s where we follow Connie, a 17-year-old girl, abandoned by her boyfriend, who discovers she is pregnant, alone and scared.

Whilst this is a well-written and cleverly developed story, it fell a little flat for me. I really struggled with the character of Marina, who I constantly felt didn’t really have much substance about her. As a result, I much preferred the timeline with Connie; however, that was still fairly singularly-focused and became a bit tedious at times.

For me, this was a very slow-paced domestic/family drama rather than a mystery. There was no real suspense, and the “reveal” towards the end did ensure a faster-pace that kept me reading, but it was still somewhat anticlimactic.

In the end, this just didn’t quite work for me and is an easily forgettable novel.

The Hiding Place is a captivating story about Marina, who is trying to discover who her parents were after she was abandoned as a baby. After a baby is discovered in the entrance hall to a house converted into flats, there is a lot of press attention and the child is eventually adopted. As an adult, Marina rents one of the flats in the building she was abandoned in and begins tracking down the original inhabitants. The story moves back and forwards from the 1960’s to the 1990’s as we follow Marina’s investigation and the lives of the people living in the flats.
I found the novel to be gripping, and the storylines are well planned and easy to follow. I couldn’t work out what had happened in the 1960’s and the ending was both believable and heartbreaking.

When a abandoned baby is found at 24 Harrington Gardens in 1960's London the residents are all shocked.
Marina was that baby and now she needs to find answers from her past would moving into Harrington Gardens give her the answers she needs?
Set in 1960's and the present this wonderfully written novel takes you back to the past from Connie and her father to Johnny and his mother to all the residents from the 60's to who is living there today.
What kind of secrets does the house hold and can Marina find out what really happened to her?

An excellent mystery spanning two time periods in which the more modern time period's character investigates her birth and the story around the baby in the hallway. The two stories marry up nicely and it was good to see the characters then and now.

I absolutely loved Jenny Quintana's last novel, Our Dark Secret so was very excited to receive an ARC of her forthcoming novel. The Hiding Place is a beautifully written, dual timeline novel about Marina, a foundling who was abandoned in a South London house in 1964. In the 1990s Marina, who was adopted, returns to the same house in her search for the truth about her birth parents. Jenny Quintana is a wonderful storyteller, this novel beautifully evokes the sense of time and place in 1960s and 1990s London and I raced through it wanting so much to discover Marina's history. In some ways it reminded me of the novels of Susan Elliot Wright, a writer I also love. This is a moving and emotional read that will stay with me for a very long time.
Highly recommended
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

3.5 stars. An atmospheric and suspenseful book, only I wish it had had a happier ending for its 1960s’ protagonist. The author's choice to base Marina’s story in the 1990s is an interesting one, giving the book a quaint retro feel. The intertwining of the two timelines is nicely done, so much so that I found myself waylaid at points.

Review copy from Netgalley.

I’ve never read any of Jenny Quintana’s books before but I’ve really enjoyed her writing style. I wouldn’t call this the most hard hitting mystery thriller however this story was written and given its right justice. I would class this book as a easy read mystery thriller, I couldn’t put the book down but could enjoy the relaxing read it offered. I particularly loved the multiple narrations and the split timelines.

In 1991 you follow Marina, known for being Baby Blue, as she tries to discover why she was abandoned at birth and what happened to her parents. In 1964, you meet Connie, a pregnant 17 year old as she tries to find her footing as pregnant unmarried women in London. We know Connie is Marina’s birth mother but I really enjoyed learning about Marina and Connie in tandem of each other. I particularly like that Quintana didn’t right Marina as an angry women at her birth family but instead she wanting to know where she came from and find some answers. The plot takes you on a journey of twists and turns, raise and falls and offers insights into both woman’s lives before our answers are found in the final chapters.

With each new information you learn in the past, I was automatically trying to work out the link to the present as well as guess at what transpired in the years between. I particularly enjoyed how Quintana managed to create meaningful connections with the characters without going into too much depth or distract away from the plot. Some people might say this book is lacking that depth they are use to with other thrillers but I was so caught in the mystery of both Marina and Connie to not be bothered by this missing emotional level; I was already invested enough into their stories to keep turning the pages.

For me the novels strength wasn’t to be found in the detail but in the simplicity of the plot. Life isn’t always filled with big moments, sometimes it can seem messy and complicated but in reality it’s normal, if you just know where to look for the truth in the first place. The ending to this novel pulled on my heart strings and Marina never once considered what turns out to be the truth; her mother did want her, fought for her, but someone else had different plans. There wasn’t a big conspiracy behind her birth, it was tragic and unfortunate but clear as day if someone just looked beyond the surface in 1964.