Book Review: The Distant Hours by Kate Morgan

I’m a gothic fiction fan and The Distant Hours has now been included among my favourite titles of this genre. Set in the early 1990s, it begins with a mysterious letter sent to Edie’s mother from Milderhurst Castle. Lost in the postal service for over fifty years, it sets in motion revelations of Edie’s mother’s life as an evacuee during World War II in England, where she is sent to live with the Blythe sisters, Percy, Saffy and Juniper at their home, Milderhurst Castle. All Edie wants to do is understand her mother, and why a letter could provoke such as dramatic response from her. It was a desire that I too felt while reading, wanting to know more about the who’s and what’s involved in the story. While out of town for work, Edie gets lost and accidentally ends up on the road to Milderhurst Castle, which still stands high up on the hill, a shadow of it’s former glory. Within its walls, Edie meets the sisters, whom are growing older, caught in the unspoken regrets of their pasts. Like any book of the gothic genre, The Distant Hours utilises time shifts and multiple narrators to effectively explore the past of both Edie’s mother, the sisters Blythe and schoolteacher/ soldier Thomas Cavil who disappeared at the end of the war after promising to come to see Juniper at the castle. The reader isn’t left feeling lost at the changes as Morton utilises these traits in a manner which gives the reader more depth of each character. Edie becomes more entwined with the mysteries of Milderhurst Castle, which includes the origins of the Mud Man, a book from her childhood which was written by Raymond Blythe, father to the three sisters. As she explores, she begins to understand her mother, making their connection much stronger than it had been before. The reader understands that, right from the beginning, there is more to the story than the letter that starts it. Morton shows us families whose love for each other is what motivates them to act in certain ways, and that all they want to do is understand each other. Loved it, definitely worth a re-read Rating 4.5/5