The Moon Gate by Amanda Geard

 

The Moon Gate by Amanda Geard.

Published 8th June 2023 by Headline.

From the cover of the book:

A faded photograph. An abandoned house. A wartime secret...

1939: On the eve of war, young English heiress Grace Grey travels from London to the wilderness of Tasmania. Coaxed out of her shell by the attentions of her Irish neighbour, Daniel - Grace finally learns to live. But when Australian forces are called to the frontline, and Daniel with them, he leaves behind a devastating secret which will forever bind them together.

1975: Artist Willow Hawkins, and her new husband, Ben, can't believe their luck when an anonymous benefactor leaves them a house on the remote Tasmanian coast. Confused and delighted, they set out to unmask Towerhurst's previous owner - unwittingly altering the course of their lives.

2004: Libby Andrews has always been sheltered from the truth behind her father Ben's death. When she travels to London and discovers a faded photograph, a long-buried memory is unlocked, and she begins to follow an investigation that Ben could never complete. But will she realise that some secrets are best left buried . . .?

From the author of the Richard and Judy Book Club pick The Midnight House, a mesmerising story of love, war, and a mystery that ensnares three generations, sweeping the reader from London to Tasmania and to Ireland. Perfect for fans of Kate Morton, Lucinda Riley and Eve Chase.

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1939: Fifteen-year-old heiress Grace Grey is evacuated from London to the other side of the world, in the company of her pretty chaperone Rose Munro, to spend the war with her uncle Marcus on the wild western coast of Tasmania. Shy and retiring, downtrodden by her cold, formidable mother Eveline, and constantly overshadowed by Rose, Grace has no idea of her own worth. It takes a long time for her to settle at Towerhurst, but encouraged by Marcus, and her new Irish friend Daniel, she begins to blossom. Grace discovers a passion for writing ballads inspired by the famous work of Australian poet, Banjo Paterson... and also for Daniel.

As Grace falls in love with Daniel, she keeps her affections a secret, afraid they will never be returned... until he confesses that he loves her too, in the anxious days before he must go to the frontline. The brief hours they have left together are treasured ones, but their hidden romance leads to heartbreak, and secrets that will ripple through time.

1975: Artist Willow, and her writer husband Ben, receive an unexpected windfall when a mystery benefactor leaves them a house on Tasmania's remote west coast. The secrecy behind the legacy makes them curious about Towerhurst's past, and as Ben delves into the stories about its previous owners, he becomes convinced that they might hold answers to questions about their own family history too.

2004: Libby travels to London to find out the truth about her father Ben's death in a tragic accident before she was born. Her mother Willow refuses to tell her what Ben was doing in London all those years ago, so far from their home in Tasmania, but Libby is determined to find out about the man she never knew. When she finds a faded photograph in his belongings, a childhood memory of a strange house in the forest comes back to her, and she sets out to complete the investigation her father started into the secrets of Towerhurst. 

The story follows these three threads in the spectacular way that Amanda Geard has made her own, forming a framework in which she weaves a vibrant and evocative finished picture. Once again, I am in awe of how she wields multiple timelines with such skill, ensuring you are fully invested in each one. 

While the action moves between London, Tasmania, and Ireland, everything revolves around the secrets of Towerhurst that begin in 1939 with Grace, Rose and Daniel. The themes of family ties, and romances tragically cut short, run throughout, and Geard builds layer upon beautiful layer as the novel progresses in each timeline - before she then deftly strips them back to reveal the answers you have been grasping for. 

There is a beautifully contrived mystery element to the whole story, sparked by Libby's need to pick up the threads of her father's investigation into the secrets of Towerhurst. All three timelines hold clues to the truth, and as each piece of the puzzle fits into place through their parallel quests, you come to fully understand how the consequences of Grace and Daniel's love have echoed through time. As in Geard's wonderful debut, The Midnight House, she cleverly uses personal possessions, letters, and photographs to link the timelines together, and they bleed together wonderfully as your perception of events shifts with each new reveal. I love how she celebrates ballads and poetry in all their glory in this novel too.

There is so much I cannot go into for fear of spoilers, but I can say that each part this novel is rich in pitch perfect feelings of time and place, bringing history and environment alive, which is impressive given the very different settings that Geard conjures for her characters. I found myself going down many rabbit holes in the process of reading this book as a result. I especially enjoyed the way she explores the rise of fascism in Grace's story, through her mother Edeline, which is something I find horribly fascinating about this time period - touching on the role of the aristocracy and powerful women in spreading the poisonous political ideology of the British Union of Fascists. And I applaud the way Geard highlights the wartime history of Australia, and her homeland Tasmania, which is so often overshadowed by the events of the Western Front with which we are more familiar.

This book is stunning, and it shows that Geard has grown in confidence, honing her skills as a writer, since her debut. It is an ambitious and sweeping story, full of aching heartbreak, romance, love, and friendship, and she pulls it off with aplomb. I adored it, and it is a serious contender for my book of 2023!

The Moon Gate is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Headline for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Amanda Geard has always loved dual-timeline novels, where stories from the past weave with those of the present day. She wants to write books that transport you to another time and place, where secrets lie just beneath the surface if only the characters know where to look.

Her new novel, The Moon Gate, is set across three locations she ADORES: Tasmania (her home state), London (where she rented a houseboat for many years) and County Kerry, Ireland (where she now lives with her family). Each of these places is special to her and she hopes you’ll feel you’re entering the temperate rainforest with Grace, opening the door to Towerhurst with Willow, walking through London’s layered history with Libby and stepping out to the heather-clad hills of County Kerry with … well, with several characters, the names of who she won’t reveal here!

The inspiration for her first novel, The Midnight House, appeared in the rafters of her Irish home, a two-hundred-year-old stone building perched on the edge of the Atlantic. Hidden there was a message, scratched into wood: 'When this comes down, pray for me. Tim O’Shea 1911'. As she held that piece of timber in her hands, dust clinging to her paint-stained clothes, she was humbled that a person’s fingerprint could, in a thousand ways, transcend time, and wanted nothing more than to capture that feeling of discovery on the page.

She is also a geologist who loves to explore the world’s remote places. Luckily for her, writing novels provides a similar sense of wonder and discovery; but the warm office, fresh food and a shower in the evening make the conditions rather more comfortable!

It's also the perfect excuse to regularly curl up by a fire with a great book (often by the wonderful authors who write in her genre). She treasures her reading time, and knows you do too, and thanks you for taking a chance on her books.