DDC/MDS
| 823/.914 |
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In this "dark, hypnotic story of romantic obsession," an elderly woman shares her disturbing secrets with a spellbound young caregiver (The New York Times). Stuck in a loveless marriage and mired in a troubled affair, Jenny Warner doesn't have a single friend in whom she can confide. Then she meets Stella Newland, a patient at Middleton Hall, the English manor-house-turned-nursing-home where Jenny works as a caregiver. Unlike most of the other residents, the gracefully dying Stella is elegant, completely lucid, and generously open to hearing all about Jenny's life. Stella understands; she has her secrets, too. As their daily confessions become more intimate and revealing, a bond is forged--one born out of the illicit affairs at the heart of their unsettled lives. But there's much more to Stella's story, something she's been afraid to share with anyone, until now. When she gives Jenny the key to her house, it unlocks a maze of mysteries about the heartbreaking and horrifying consequences of love. It's a discovery--and a warning--that could prove to be Jenny's salvation, or lead her toward a doomed and inevitable end.… (more)
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User reviews
This is one of those Vines where there isn't a clear pro or antagonist. There isn't some heinous crime that either woman is hiding. Yes, there could have been something like that in Stella's past, but it I didn't get that sense of things. Surely there
This is the story of guilty secrets and love gone wrong. Because Stella and Alan's romance ran aground it's a pretty sure bet that Jenny and Ned's will too. Despite that it was a very romantic novel. Stella's remembrances are tinged with enough sadness to be believable, but not so much as to be sappy. Playing the victim just isn't her style. No wonder Jenny likes her and I like the way Vine brought her to life. Born in a time when graciousness was appreciated in women, Stella is poised and polished. Sheltered, too, because that's how women were treated when she came of age; like exotic birds that couldn't be shown too much of the world for fear they would die. In the end though, Stella has enough backbone to sustain her through a horrific event that should have killed her soul, but didn't. The disillusion of her love was palpably sad and even though Jenny's ended quite differently, it echoed nicely.
The writing was very good. The characters of 30 year old Genevieve and 70 year old Stella, each involved in an adulterous relationship, were very well developed. Genevieve compared and contrasted her current relationship with Ned to Stella's decades old affair, but was not able to change her behavior. Women always think their own doomed relationship is different from everyone else's and will somehow work out, don't they?