Book Review: The Shadow Year by Hannah Richell

Reviewer: Samantha

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summary:

Still grieving the death of her prematurely delivered infant, Lila finds a welcome distraction in renovating a country house she’s recently inherited. Surrounded by blueprints and plaster dust, though, she finds herself drawn into the story of a group of idealistic university grads from thirty years before, who’d thrown off the shackles of bourgeois city life to claim the cottage and rely only on each other on the land. But utopia-building can be fraught with unexpected peril, and when the fate of the group is left eerily unclear, Lila turns her attention to untangling a web of secrets to uncover the shocking truth of what happened that fateful year, in order to come to terms with her own loss and build a new future for herself.

Review:

This was a book that had me thinking “oh, shit” several times while reading. Upon starting the story, I was trying to decide how Kat and Lila’s lives connected, what the significance was of their stories being told together. It’s impossible not to get sucked into the novel – a mystery building, tension mounting, a setting described to us so perfectly that we think we can be there, and Lila’s heartbreaking story of her baby girl. All the needed ingredients for a five star novel, but then the ending comes…and makes it even better. I found myself holding my breath while reading the epilogue, thinking – you guessed it – “oh, shit.” One of my favorite of the year, and one I highly recommend.

5 stars