Book Review: The Clockmaker’s Daughter | Kate Morton

How to describe a book like The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton? The story itself is delicate, like spun sugar. It is timeless, not bound by a single story thread, but comprised of a tangle of threads that weave backwards and forwards like the winding of a clock. In that way, The Clockmaker’s Daughter couldn’t have a more perfect titular figure and motif.

I found this book to be thought-provoking and haunting, but not in the way you’d expect. There is a ghost, of course. But this book is haunting in the way a beloved place can be haunting. The feeling that the moment you return to the place, all of your memories and the memories of others flood back, and you’re surrounded by everything that place has experienced. At its core, that is what I’d say The Clockmaker’s Daughter is about.

About the Book

My real name no one remembers.
The truth about that summer no one knows.

In 1862 a group of artists arrive at newly purchased Birchwood Manor on the banks of the upper Thames river. Owner and artist Edward Radcliffe has found his passion, his muse. He steals her away to the house for the summer, desperate to produce the best work of his life. But the summer ends in tragedy—a murder that remains mysterious through history. The disappearance of Edward’s muse coincidentally timed with the absence of a family heirloom. A man left shattered, unable to put his life back together…

Nearly 150 years later archivist Elodie Winslow is working in London when she discovers a mysterious, beautiful satchel. Inside the satchel is an artists’ sketchbook, filled with page after page of drawings of a beautiful, twin-gabled, river-side country manor. And it also contains a photograph of a beautiful woman. Elodie can’t shake the familiarity she experiences when seeing the sketchbook and photo. She knows this house. She’s heard stories about this house her whole life. And she must find out who the woman is…

Weaving the 150 years in between Edward and Elodie are a series of stories, seemingly unrelated save for one thing in common—the house. Now, a house haunted by scandal and tragedy becomes a haven for so many people who are lost along the way. And a mysterious presence lurks in the house, connecting with those who are open to receiving it.

“Do you believe in ghosts, Mr. Gilbert?”
“I believe a man can find himself haunted.”

Reflection

This book to me marked a new iteration of Kate Morton’s writing. She has always been outstanding, gifted with words and sentences, telling tales of love that break the boundaries of time. But this book has something incredibly different but no less mesmerizing about it. The settings and story threads are enchanting, and I fell in love with each resident of the Birchwood Manor in turn. But there’s a melancholy to this book that pulls you into it. This is a house that exists as a beacon to those who are lost. Their time at the house is happy, but not free from pain and loss.

If the description I’ve given is confusing, let me be more clear about the book. Though marketed as a book about a mystery, I’d say this book is actually about a house and those who harbor there to wear out their personal storms. From the mysterious woman in the photo who is at the house in 1862 to Elodie in present times, there are a string of residents with their own stories.

This book may feel difficult to grasp at times, like water slipping through your fingers. But I promise that all becomes intricately woven and not a single character or scene will go unaccounted for. The ending is tragic and uplifting and heart-warming. All of the stories fit together perfectly, and what seemed a tangled unconnected mess will become a seamless thread, weaving you back and forth through time. You’ll gain the all-knowing glow that surrounds our titular character, as she explores the manor, connecting with each person who arrives.

A beautiful story that explores the memories a place can hold, and the stories that come both before we arrive, and long after we depart. This is a perfect vacation read, when the reader has the freedom to let the story transport them away from their life and to the grounds of Birchwood Manor.

Book Besties Approved

This was a book read with the Book Besties. It took us each on our own journey, and we all had our moment of connection with the story at a different point. It was such a lovely book to have as a group read, and I encourage others to read it with their favorite book-loving friend, or with a book club. There’s so much richness to this story that deserves conversation.

Many thanks is owed to the team at Atria Books for our partner copies of this book. It is on sale now, and you can purchase your copy at Amazon Books or your favorite bookseller!