What a mesmerising Gothic timeslip mystery! I was completely surprised at every turn reading The House in the Water by Victoria Darke. I did not know what to expect so it kept me guessing and unsettled. I could not put it down once I started, as it pushed my curiosity level to the max! I was eating my lunch with one hand and flicking through the digital pages as fast as my eyes could follow the words with the other! Be prepared to set aside some time to read this one and keep your pets close!

The dilapidated May Day House is full of mystery and carries its own stories from the past. A diary is found on the premises that sheds light on the activities carried out there during World War II. Every time Meredith sits down to read it, we are ushered back to 1942 where we learn that it has been used as a hospital for traumatised soldiers who are sent there to rehabilitate. Here we learn of the psychiatric practices that have been performed and they are as traumatic as the experience of war. These doctors are carrying on with old practices that some might say are questionable whereas a doctor in Egypt is approaching the mentally wounded with new techniques.

I had great empathy for the young Irish nurse Ellen who came through a horrifying ordeal during the war. In some ways you could say she suffered from PTSD as a result, especially when the war planes made appearance. Despite her fear of being confined, she was courageous in many ways. When she is stationed at May Day House after previously being with the more advanced doctor, she becomes very uncomfortable watching the various treatment approaches. Particularly in one of the patients who has seen some horrific things at war. She becomes close to him and her personal attachment soon affects her ability to take commands. She is uneasy about their use of truth serum and electric shock therapy (ECT). When a man’s safety is threatened by the treatment, she takes matters into her own hands and contacts the doctor in her previous military posting.

I was gripped by ghosts and unsuspecting villains in the 2013 timeline. Held great concern for Meredith, the trusting heroine, who has had her own share of grief and loss. I must admit I was nervous about her pilot husband (as we are meant to be) who is away a lot, of course, due to his job. As a result, she finds herself alone often on the island dealing with some very scary events. Suspicions run high through the story and you wonder, as Meredith, who can be trusted. There is a great cast of supporting characters that had my emotions running all over the place as I followed their seen and unseen activities.

I always enjoy a dual timeline and, in this case, loved both equally. They run perfectly along-side each other in a complimentary fashion. The build-up to the climax was nail-biting and the truth revealed was shocking! But everything came together in a perfect seamless ending.

This is definitely a spellbinding and unsettling tale with a dash of romance set in WW2 and 2013 that might haunt your dreams and leave you with a lot to think about! I enjoyed The House in the Water and feel Ms Darke has delivered a riveting read. 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Boldwood Books and Netgalley for a review copy.

I really enjoyed this dual time line book. The story of mentally disturbed soldiers and their treatment was harrowing, as was Ellen's back story. The historical research behind this was solid. The present day story also kept my attention, with underlying guilt issues , drugs and blackmail, and a few red herrings!
The setting on the Thames with its beauty and its perils added to the picture. The ending tied everything together perfectly. Thanks to NetGalley for a chance to review this book.

Meredith and Philip move into an old house on the Thames with the intention of renovating it as a fresh start. As problems in their personal lives become harder to ignore, Meredith finds solace in the pages of an old journal kept by a nurse during World War II that she finds in the house. With locals saying the house is haunted, disputes with the neighbors, and Meredith starting to see things that she cannot explain, her fresh start is becoming more of a nightmare with each passing day.

The setting of this book was unique, and it was interesting to see the different lifestyles portrayed by the author. The dialogue was particularly well done. A lot of care was clearly put into the speech patterns and personalities of each character, which really fleshed them out. The WWII nursing aspect of this story was extremely well-researched, and I would say that this book has very respectful, if grim, depictions of mental health and PTSD treatments during that time. There are also mentions of miscarriage and attempted SA, so please keep this in mind when deciding if this book is for you.

It took a while for me to get invested in Meredith as a main character, but she grew on me once the story picked up. I initially thought that I had guessed several plot points early on, but the book ended up outmatching me with its reveals several times and I was pleasantly surprised with the direction it ended up taking. I also liked the ending a lot and felt that it wrapped up everything that needed to be. Mystery readers will find this a fun and unique story. Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC. This is my honest review.

4/5 A dual timeline story wrapped in mystery.

What a lovely story. A dual time-line set in 1942 and present day. Sometimes it unsettled me with all the voices in the fog and it was very atmospheric. A great debut from Victoria and hopefully more to come. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

An enjoyable atmospheric dual timeline novel. Really enjoyed the alternating stories of the two main female characters and the supernatural element to the story. A book that is easy to read and perfect to settle down with. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the advance review copy.

Thank you Netgalley & Boldwood Books for an eARC ♥️


Personally, I loved how the book made me feel like I was uncovering the secrets alongside Meredith. The author's use of language is so vivid and immersive, it was like I was right there with her, exploring the old house and uncovering the truth. And the ending! Oh, the ending was so satisfying and emotional, it left me feeling like I'd been on a journey with the characters.

One of my favorite things about this book is that it's told in two POVs - Ellen's and Meredith's. I love when authors use this technique, as it adds depth and complexity to the story. You get to see the same events from different perspectives, and it's like piecing together a puzzle. It's so effective in building tension and suspense, and it makes the story feel even more immersive.♥️

I do love a dual timeline!
And this first book by Author Victoria Darke was a pleasure to read.
Set between 1942, in the war years, and 2013, we see the connections build between a young nurse working in a hospital on an island in the Thames, where May Day House sits, and the present era when a young couple decides to invest in said house and island with all manner of ideas, but then strange things start to happen.
Ellen is a nurse, already haunted by what she has seen of the treatment given to men suffering what we now know as PTSD, including electric shock therapy. She is transferred to May Day House, filled with the hope that the humane methods used by the doctor she has worked with previously will be administered here, but she comes in for a shock of her own. All the while, her personal life becomes more and more muddled.
Meredith finds this beautiful but dilapidated house for sale on an Island not far from where her husband, Philip, grew up. She becomes almost obsessed with building their home and business around the property. Her husband being a pilot means she spends increasingly long amounts of time alone as she tries to tidy up, as best she can, decades of ruin and process hidden truths she slowly uncovers while reading a diary she found from 1942 written by a nurse who lived there.
Oh, and ghosts! There had to be hints of ghosts, didn't there?
The twists and turns revealed kept me turning pages way longer than I was meant to stay awake. The way Meredith's mind gets confused as she learns more and more tugged at my heart, and reading Ellen's experiences with her beau and how his mental health was essentially compartmentalized in an era when there wasn't much knowledge was heartwrenching. And I wasn't even aware that the Thames had little islands, like this one!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC.

The house of the title is a splendid Victorian mansion on an island in the River Thames. It has been requisitioned by the army in 1943 and being used for rehabilitation of mental problems that we'd now call PSTD, using techniques of the time. This story is told through the eyes of a young army nurse, herself suffering PTSD as we gradually learn. Moving to 2013/4 the house has suffered years of neglect and is bought by a couple having their own problems - Meredith lost her parents in a car crash, has suffered several miscarriages following IVF and a pilot husband away a lot. They hope that May Isle House will become their dream home. The two timelines work well. There are similarities between the two women although their characters are very different. It is, however, rather a depressing book - mental trauma, abuse, guilt, ghosts/hallucinations, drugs, not to mention NIMBIs resenting potential change and, at times, it grinds down the reader. There is a surprising twist which partly makes up for the depressing bits. 3.5* rounded up. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy.

The House In The Water by Victoria Darke is a marvellous dual timeline novel that I just could not put down. It is set in 1943 and 2013. The chapters alternate between the two time periods. The war years are told by a mixture of letters and narration. The house is the key on which everything hangs.
In 1943 the house is used by the army to treat soldiers who are battle scarred. “Their scars might be invisible, but they are no less real.” Today we would recognize PTSD but not in 1943. There were some very primitive methods used to treat mental illness, including electric shock therapy. These poor men received brutal treatment. Mental illness was not understood.
We also meet a nurse who is battling her own demons. She also has PTSD but shockingly “the army is not interested in treating women, even those who almost died in an enemy attack.”
The action in 1943 is seen through the nurse’s eyes. We get to know her intimately. She is kind and she is brave.
In present day events are seen through the eyes of a young woman. She is grieving the loss of two babies after failed IVF, and also her parents were killed in a road traffic accident. The house on the island is her project. She wants to bring it back to life, and in doing so, she wants to return herself to life.
Community life in a village is not all it’s cracked up to be. Plans for renovation are greeted with hostility. Not everyone is as they first seem.
The house hides secrets within its walls and grounds. Is it a vivid imagination? Or are there troubled souls from the past walking around?
Within the tale, there are elements of the gothic tradition, with old houses, fog, rising waters, stormy weather and more. The readers pulse rate rises as we are committed to following the action. The house on the island really isn’t a place to be as darkness descends.
All the characters were well drawn and realistic. There were definitely characters with evil intent. The unmasking came as a surprise.
I thoroughly enjoyed The House In The Water. It consumed me from the start. It was the first book by Victoria Darke but I certainly she she will write more.
I received a free copy from Rachel’s Random Resources for a blog tour. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

Every once in a while I read a book that’s slightly darker than my usual, and it always seems to pay off.

This is an example of that situation!

First off, the cover is absolutely beautiful. It’s the first aspect of the book that drew me in.

I loved the dual timelines. It has to be done right for it to work right but I really felt that it still flowed so well here.

I love historical fiction so this really fits in with one of my preferred genres- with some added gothic themes to don’t generally gravitate toward but fit so well within this!

Don't you love a dual time line novel? I do and this one is exceptional - I have read the authors earlier work and this is straying into much darker territory, but I think it only serves to show what a great writer she is.
It's not at times for the faint hearted, you are introduced to a world where mental health and the care of people with PTSD was treated very differently, however, the story still remains an uplifting read - I enjoyed it very much.
Atmospheric, gripping, with huge heart and impossible to put down - the very best sort of book!
Many thanks to the author and publisher for my advance copy.

I am loving reading this book. I'm engrossed! My attention was gripped straight away with the opening chapter and the dual timeline stories are deftly handled. Five stars.

This sounded like a good book, but I was disappointed. The stressful tone didn’t keep me turning pages. The characters endured miscarriage, sexual assault, cruel treatment for combat-stressed mental patients, unpleasant neighbors. I finally skipped through the book in search of a satisfying ending. This was not a book for me.

This is one of my favourite authors, Victoria Scott, writing as Victoria Darke. I have loved every single one of Ms. Scott’s books; they all have a 4.26 or higher rating. I recommend you go to her page and check them out, you won’t be disappointed.

The author goes in a completely different direction with this story and it worked for me. We have two timelines and two female main characters. Ellen is a nurse in 1943 in an old house and Meredith (Merry) is working on the same house in 2013. We also have Merry reading Ellen’s diary and I liked that it was somewhat of an epistolary novel. As is usual for me I loved the older timeline, getting a peek at what it was like to live during that era was amazing. The story has a gothic vibe, a creepy house and a natural disaster and it all comes together perfectly in the end.

Lots of tough topics, miscarriage, grief, PTSD, sexual harassment and lots of secrets revealed. There were some very barbaric practices back then for those suffering from mental health issues and the author has done some impressive research on it. There is such a wonderful backstory to the plot, not just for the older timeline but for a lot of the characters in the present. I really thought the author was going to go one way with the story and it very much surprised me (and made me very happy) that she didn’t, I loved the way it ended, Darke weaved everything together seamlessly. As I said, the research is impeccable, the writing is absorbing and the story engrossing.

I recommend you read the author’s notes at the end of the book, you’ll be glad you did. I also want to mention the cover, it is absolutely gorgeous and I love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy. And a special thank you to Victoria Darke for asking the publisher to give me a copy.

Firstly loved the cover it certainly drew my attention and I would certainly pick it up in any bookstore! The house in the water was a wonderful read. It is a well written novel, with punchy dialogue that rings true, and the descriptive writing brings the scenes to life. A book that stands out from the crowd. The characters and the setting are written exceptionally well. Overall four starts ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Everyone has a past they want to leave behind -- so secrets can be dangerous for all involved.
We have plenty of things going on in this story —Historical fiction, PTSD, gaslighting , sexual assault, paranormal , two times lines 1942 and 2013.— we will see how the past comes to play in the future — we can never escape the past— the shadows of which may threaten the happiness of all the characters futures. I was definitely more invested in Meredith’s situation in 2013 — but was enjoying the past story of the house and how it would all connect in the future. This was a difficult book for some topics but it was also difficult to put down and go back to real life.

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC. This is my Honest review.

For readers of the late Lucinda Riley, this book is a great read. Starting out in a hospital set on the Thames, a young traumatized Irish nurse begins a new position helping soldiers recover from shell shocked conditions during WWII. Jump to the present, the reader meets a young couple recovering from their own traumatic experiences. Buying the abandoned house , the couple hopes to renovate the house and begin anew. With her husband frequently away, the main character in the book begins to see unusual things ( Ghosts?) and hears voices that no one else hears. Finding a notebook belonging to the nurse that had worked at the house during the war connects the two storylines. I loved this ! I will recommend this to people who read historical fiction.