Kate Baxter's Reviews > The Song of Hartgrove Hall

Are you a Downton Abbey fan - then you will thoroughly enjoy this book. Also a classical music fan? - Then you will devour it as the story resonates to your soul. The father "General", his three sons, (one with girl on arm), return to the neglected family estate after WWII. "She" (the house) is crumbling around their ears yet she still holds so many wonderful memories. Can she be saved? Who knows?

Meanwhile, the brothers and the gal are pals and revisit old favorite haunts of the estate. The eldest son has her yet the other two want her. The youngest son, like the mother who was gone before his 4th birthday, is a talented musician and has come home for the summer holiday from his studies at Cambridge. The girl on the arm of his eldest brother, is a singer and the darling of Britain after having recorded bolstering patriotic songs during the war. The two musicians are connected in ways that others cannot begin to fathom. Yet, she belongs to the eldest brother. The youngest brother is tormented and cannot endure it.

Author Natasha Solomon's writing style is painterly in this beautiful yet sometime difficult story. One imagines being among the characters and sharing the struggles of their lives. The tension, grief, guilt and emotions are palpable. This is a story you won't want to put down and it will linger with you for quite some time.

I am grateful to author Natasha Solomons, publisher Penguin Random House LLC and Goodreads Giveaway program for having provided a free uncorrected proof copy of this book. Their generosity did not, however, influence this review - the words of which are mine alone.