Book Review / The Winter Secret by Lulu Taylor

The Winter Secret is a thrilling mystery from Lulu Taylor, top ten bestselling author of The Snow Rose.

‘My dear boy, the place is cursed. It always has been and it always will be . . .’
 
Buttercup Redmain has a life of pampered luxury, living in beautiful Charcombe Park. Her older husband, Charles Redmain, is wealthy and successful, and proud of the house he has painstakingly restored, once owned by a famous ancestor. Buttercup is surrounded by people who make her life delightfully easy. But the one thing she really wants seems impossible.

There are other discomforting realities: her husband’s ex-wife Ingrid still lives nearby although Buttercup has never met her. And it soon becomes clear that all the people who make Buttercup’s life so carefree are also watching her every move. Does she actually live in a comfortable but inescapable cage? And what is the real story of her husband’s previous marriage?

In the late 1940s, Xenia Arkadyoff lived in Charcombe Park with her father, a Russian prince, and her mother, a famous film star. Life seemed charmed, full of glamour and beauty. But behind the glittering facade lay pain, betrayal, and the truth about the woman Xenia spent her life protecting.
Now Charcombe Park is calling back people who were once part of its story, and the secrets that have stayed long hidden are bubbling inexorably to the surface . . .


Published:     29th November 2019
Publisher:  Pan
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Owned

MY REVIEW

Yet another fantastic novel!  Ever since picking up my first Lulu Taylor novel earlier this year, I have not been able to stop reading them!  It has taken a while, wanting to savour each of them in their own right.

As with all of her novels, this story runs in two timelines - the past and the present.  In the past we follow Xenia who lives at Charcome Park with her father and mother.   Although life should be wonderful, but it isn't.  Her mother is not well at all and Xenia finds herself having to be more grown up than what she should be.  In the present, we folow Buttercup who marries Charles and moves into Charcome Park.  Her life should be wonderful, but things aren't what they seem.  Maybe she is not as free as she would like to think she is.

Such a great story about family drama, love and betrayal.  Would highly recommend.