Book Review: The London House by Katherine Reay

The London House. Katherine Reay. Harper Muse (2021). 368 pages. Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction.

First Lines of Prologue:  "17 October 1941. Caro hugged Martine, whispering close to her ear.  'I won't be back. It's too dangerous.'"

Summary:  Caroline Payne is finally feeling some peace.  She has found work she loves to do and is getting settled in Boston.  When she receives a call from an old college friend, Mat Hammond, she is surprised, but agrees to meet him for coffee.  Mat is a journalist trying to make a name for himself.  On the side, he does genealogical research.  A family has hired him to find out what happened to their relative.  In the course of his research, he came across Caroline's great-aunt, Caroline Waite.   He has uncovered a long-held secret: Caroline's great-aunt betrayed her country and family to escape with a German lover during WWII.  This is the type of story that will garner attention.  Mat has written an article about what he has uncovered and believes it will be accepted by a major news publication.  

Caroline can't believe this is true.  She has been told that her great-aunt died of Polio as a child.  Mat has proof that she was alive as an adult.  Caroline is determined to find answers and asks Mat for a little time to try to find them before he submits his article.   Her family still owns a home in London which they refer to as "The London House".  She and Mat travel to London to scour letters and diaries left by her grandmother and great-aunt.  Will they be able to discover the truth before the article deadline?

My thoughts:  What an amazing story this is!  Katherine Reay is a talented author who has woven fact and fiction to create a story that is hard to put down.  

Part of the story takes place in present day and involves Caroline.  As the story unfolds, we learn about her family's complicated past and the way it has shaped her.  Because of circumstances in their lives, both of her parents retreated into themselves when Caroline was young.  She was distanced from both of her siblings for various reasons.  These things left her feeling alone, unloved and like a failure.  However, Caroline has made a life for herself and is doing the best she can.  Combined with this is her previous relationship with Mat.  They were close friends in college, but then lost touch.  Caroline is not even sure what happened, which makes the fact that he has contacted her more confusing.  

The other part of the story takes place in the days leading up to WWII and is told through letters and diaries.  Caroline's grandmother, Margaret,  had a twin sister named Caroline, but they called her Caro.  Caroline was told she died of Polio as a child.  As Mat and Caroline scour the letters and diaries to try to find out what really happened to Caro, they come to know and love Margaret and Caro.  In the late 1930's, Caro left London for Paris where she worked for Elsa Schiaparelli in her famous dress shop.  I loved learning about this business and the culture surrounding it.  Also interesting was the way Caro picked up the beliefs and ideas of the culture she was living in.  Unfortunately, they were in opposition to the beliefs and ideas of her family still living in London.  The created a wedge between them.  Caro rarely returned home because of the conflict. The author did a great job of showing how the distractions of the fashion world blinded people to what was really going on in the world.  Also how people's beliefs divided them.  

"In World War Two, no one can deny there was a real mix and mess of loyalties.  It must have felt like the world was ending and life would never be the same.  What's more, the enemy was sometimes within your own home."

The parallels to our present circumstances were striking. While all of this seems heavy, there is a thread of hope running through the story.  There are themes of love, confession, forgiveness, truth, family and how the past defines us.  Best of all, it is a story of reconciliation that leaves the reader with a sense of hope for the future.