The Clockmaker’s Daughter, a review by Joanna

Elodie is a modern day archivist who comes across a Victorian era photo of a beautiful young woman, alongside a drawing of a house she was told stories about as a child, by an artist with a tragic history. Ambivalent about her upcoming wedding, she dives into the mystery, but the only person who knows the truth is the ghost who haunts Birchwood Manor.

This had very mixed reviews and I wasn’t even sure I wanted to read it – it sat on my Book Club shelf for ages, but I’m trying to read and return some of these and had heard good things about Morton’s writing so decided to give it a go. It started well, although Elodie is as annoying wet blanket, but then we are introduced to Birdie, and a series of other mostly boring characters from different times, and have to piece together how they all fit together. I was constantly flicking back to remind myself who was who – this would’ve been easier on a Kindle – and then just when things would get vaguely interesting, like with Ada’s story, we’d jump back to either Birdie’s sad past or someone new. The last quarter would’ve worked far better at the beginning, and the ending left most characters’ fates largely unresolved, apart from the awful revelation about what happened to Birdie, which I would rather not have read about. I’m still keen to read another of this author’s books but don’t recommend this one.