The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge by Rachel Hore

 

The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge by Rachel Hore.

Published 31st July by Simon and Schuster.

From the cover of the book:

Secrets from the past, unravelling in the present…

Nancy Foster has harboured a devastating secret that shattered her professional and personal life. On meeting her, journalist Stef Lansdown realizes that she has the power to restore Nancy’s reputation and to heal the wounds, if only Nancy will trust her. 

But someone else wants to get to the bottom of the story first, someone who doesn’t want it to be told.

Set in the beautiful environs of the Norfolk Broads in 2010, and in London in the '40s and ‘50s, when life for career-driven women was so different, The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge is Sunday Times multi-million copy bestselling author Rachel Hore’s utterly compelling new novel, interweaving the past and the present.

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When journalist Stef Lansdown decides that her next project will be setting the record straight when it comes to the way the research of female scientists has been historically side-lined, or worse, she could not have foreseen how her own life would change in the process...

Fate brings Stef into contact with Dr Nancy Foster, who lives alone on a nature reserve on the Norfolk Broads, in ramshackle Dragonfly Lodge. As Stef strikes up a friendship with this elderly woman, she begins to realise that Nancy is an ideal candidate as a subject for her book - if only she can persuade Nancy to reveal the devastating secrets she has kept about her life and work.

But persuading Nancy to trust her is not going to be easy when someone is determined to keep the truth hidden, and Nancy's protective grandson, Aaron, is suspicious of Stef's motives.

Set in the beautiful Norfolk countryside, Rachel Hore's compelling new novel delves into the shocking history of the treatment of female scientists in post-war Britain, and is inspired by the experiences of her own mother and aunt in the late 1940s.

The story unfurls through the eyes of Stef in 2010, as she gets to know Nancy (and her grandson Aaron); and through flashbacks to Nancy's life, which she gradually reveals over the course of the book, once she knows she can trust Stef with the truth. The book is dominated with jaw-dropping detail about how Nancy's personal and professional lives were derailed by patriarchal manipulation, sexual discrimination, and the misjudged motives of others. It paints an authentic picture of time and place, with powerful themes of post-war attitudes; the conflicting demands of marriage, motherhood, and career; and the factual stories of women who were treated just like Nancy - all of which leaves a profoundly bitter taste in the mouth, 

In the present, Hore weaves in lovely threads about friendship, family, failed relationships, love, marriage, and community, and a gentle romance for Stef, all of which nicely echo many of the themes from Nancy's life. There is the grit of a sinister mystery about threatening letters, and an examination of corporate influence in scientific research too, which fill out an already hard-hitting novel. But, for all its thought-provoking substance, this is not a book without hope. I very much enjoyed the way Hore brings everything to an uplifting close, and her nature writing is lovely.

I consumed the 480 page heft of this compelling novel in a single sitting, which says a lot for how Rachel Hore can utterly absorb you with her writing. Highly recommended, especially if you love a book that shines a light on the untold history of women.

The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to join this Team BATC blog tour.

About the author:

Rachel Hore worked in London publishing for many years before moving with her family to Norwich, where she taught publishing and creative writing at the University of East Anglia until deciding to become a full-time writer. The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge is her fourteenth novel. She is married to the writer D.J. Taylor and they have three sons.