The House of Brides
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3.7 • 18 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
'Spellbinding, evocative and compelling, The House of Brides is a delicious literary treat that I couldn't devour fast enough. I predict this is the book everyone will be talking about this summer.' - Rachael Johns, bestselling Australian author
Miranda has had a rough few years. Her successful career as a social media influencer has come crashing down after the controversial flop of her fertility app. Humiliated, she moves reluctantly back home to her judgemental father and cold stepmother's house to nurse her wounds, feeling more than ever the loss of her mother.
Miranda's mother, well-known author Tessa Summer, died when Miranda was young, leaving behind her bestselling book The House of Brides -- a book that chronicled the generations of brides, each more notorious and tragic than the last, who married into the infamous Summer family and became mistress of the beautiful Barnsley House in England. Miranda does not know her mother's family, so when a mysterious letter arrives from a young Summer cousin, asking for her help, Miranda's curiosity about the legendary family (and desire to escape her current situation) prompts her to act.
Posing as a prospective nanny, she is soon living in the heart of the family, but nothing is as she expects. The luxury hotel and world-renowned restaurant created by the most recent 'bride', the lovely and effervescent Daphne, is gone. So is Daphne. More disturbing, one of the children is in a wheelchair after a mysterious accident and the sinister housekeeper Mrs Mins seems to have a dark influence over the master of the house.
What happened in this house? Where is Daphne? Will Miranda discover what darkness lies hidden at the heart of this house of brides? And if she does, will she survive it?
MORE PRAISE FOR THE HOUSE OF BRIDES
'Cockram' s plot crackles with tension, hitting all the right notes for readers fond of gothic-flavored tales.' - Publishers Weekly
'Gripping, atmospheric and with an ending you won't see coming, this book held me in its spell long after the final page. A sure-fire bestseller.' - Sally Hepworth, bestselling author of The Mother-in-Law
'Jane Cockram's The House of Brides is a twisty, turny ride through the English countryside ... Fans of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and Rebecca will love this! " - Ellen LaCorte, author of The Perfect Fraud
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Cockram's atmospheric debut, a clever twist on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, a woman hoping to learn more about her deceased mother steps into a wasp's nest of secrets and lies. The reputation and finances of Miranda Summer, an Australian social media influencer, are in ruins after she makes fraudulent claims on her health and wellness app. She receives a letter addressed to her mother, Tessa, an author who died when Miranda was a girl, from Tessa's 12-year-old cousin Sophie, asking for help at the family house. The letter leads the impulsive Miranda to the foreboding, and possibly haunted, Barnsley House, now a renowned English oceanside restaurant and hotel, which Tessa wrote about in her famous and only novel, The House of Brides. The intimidating housekeeper Mrs. Mins mistakes Miranda for the new nanny, which Miranda doesn't correct. Miranda's estranged uncle, Max, is aloof, and his wife, Daphne, a famous chef, has stayed in bed since the auto accident that put their daughter, Agatha, in a wheelchair. Miranda senses things aren't quite right in the home, but she enjoys caring for Agatha, Sophie, and their brother, Robbie, and starts piecing together her family's strange history and its extraordinary women. When Daphne disappears, shocking secrets rise to the surface. Miranda, who narrates, is flawed but relatable, and Cockram's plot crackles with tension, hitting all the right notes for readers fond of gothic-flavored tales.
