The Silk House
Kayte Nunn
Reviewed by Helen
This is a beautifully written story set across two time zones in 1760’s and now in England at a very old boarding school in the British countryside, for the first time ever girls are starting at the school and they will be boarding in a very old house known as the silk house, but when the new teacher and girls arrive strange things are happening.
Australian history teacher Thea Rush has just taken up a position at the exclusive boarding school in England 150 years old and this is the first time girls will be boarding, the school is also special to Thea in other ways, but when they move into Silk House there seems to be an eerie presence and when Thea starts to research the house she finds that it has had a very troubled past with accusations of witches and she is compelled to get to the bottom of the mystery.
In 1760 Rowan Caswell arrives at the silk house and becomes a maid, she works hard for the owners and she also has a gift for healing but must be very careful about what she does, she soon becomes wary of the other maid that works there Alice and for good reasons and when she is asked to help the mistress Caroline with a problem this changes lives.
Mary-Louise Stephenson is living in London with her sister and struggling to pay the bills, she is a gifted artist with her beautiful drawings of plants and insects but also her deadly plants that are beautiful to look at only, and is keen to get some of her drawings taken on by the silk merchants and become a designer in a male dominated world, when she is offered work by a silk merchant from Oxleigh she jumps at the chance but maybe in haste.
This is a compelling story, haunting in the stories that Rowan and Mary-Louse tell of their lives, Thea works hard to uncover the mystery which surrounds silk house and is pulled in by the things she discovers, a lot of hurt and secrecy had gone on in this house and it is now time for Thea to put a couple of people to rest eternally.
I loved this story from start to finish, a historical ghost mystery story that I highly recommend thank you MS Nunn for another fabulous story
Australian history teacher Thea Rush has just taken up a position at the exclusive boarding school in England 150 years old and this is the first time girls will be boarding, the school is also special to Thea in other ways, but when they move into Silk House there seems to be an eerie presence and when Thea starts to research the house she finds that it has had a very troubled past with accusations of witches and she is compelled to get to the bottom of the mystery.
In 1760 Rowan Caswell arrives at the silk house and becomes a maid, she works hard for the owners and she also has a gift for healing but must be very careful about what she does, she soon becomes wary of the other maid that works there Alice and for good reasons and when she is asked to help the mistress Caroline with a problem this changes lives.
Mary-Louise Stephenson is living in London with her sister and struggling to pay the bills, she is a gifted artist with her beautiful drawings of plants and insects but also her deadly plants that are beautiful to look at only, and is keen to get some of her drawings taken on by the silk merchants and become a designer in a male dominated world, when she is offered work by a silk merchant from Oxleigh she jumps at the chance but maybe in haste.
This is a compelling story, haunting in the stories that Rowan and Mary-Louse tell of their lives, Thea works hard to uncover the mystery which surrounds silk house and is pulled in by the things she discovers, a lot of hurt and secrecy had gone on in this house and it is now time for Thea to put a couple of people to rest eternally.
I loved this story from start to finish, a historical ghost mystery story that I highly recommend thank you MS Nunn for another fabulous story
5 stars
Published June 30th 2020 by Hachette Australia
