The House On The Lake
Nuala Ellwood
No matter how far you run . . .
He’s never far behind
Lisa needs to disappear. And her friend’s rambling old home in the wilds of Yorkshire seems like the perfect place. It’s miles away from the closest town, and no one there knows her or her little boy, Joe.
But when a woman from the local village comes to visit them, Lisa realizes that she and Joe aren’t as safe as she thought.
What secret has Rowan Isle House – and her friend – kept hidden all these years?
And what will Lisa have to do to survive, when her past finally catches up with her?
My Thoughts
The House on the Lake is an absorbing, atmospheric story with a dual narrative told in alternating chapters.
The first part of the story includes diary entries from an eleven-year-old girl called Soldier No. 1 who lives in Rowan Isle House with her father Sarge. The ex-soldier keeps his daughter (who we later find out is called Grace) isolated from everyone, feeling that no-one is to be trusted and the harsh way of life will ‘train’ the child to be resilient and self-reliant.
Years later Lisa is fleeing her abusive husband Mark, hiding at the extremely dilapidated Rowan Isle House with her young son Joe. The safe house was offered to Lisa by a friend to escape and hide from Mark, but the house is so remote and lacking in amenities, will she survive there with such a young child?
How are the two stories linked and what secrets will the old house reveal?
Rowan Isle house is described so intricately that you have a sense of unease, sometimes there is a ghostly ambience, at other times it is chilling and claustrophobic. The suspense builds slowly to a gripping ending with secrets revealed along the way. The House on the Lake is compelling and dark with a strong theme of control interlocking the two narratives. A truly great thriller from an author I will be seeking out in the future.
Nuala Ellwood is the author of two bestselling novels: My Sister’s Bones, for which she was selected as one of the Observer’s ‘New Faces of Fiction 2017’, and Day of the Accident. Nuala lives in York with her young son. The House on the Lake is her latest novel.
I received a free copy of the book and have reviewed honestly. Many thanks to Ellie from Penguin Random House/ Viking Books.
