The Clockmaker's Daughter

This is a difficult review for me to write. Not because I don’t know what to say, but because how I feel about this novel differs from my usual rapturous response – couldn’t-turn-the-pages fast enough reaction - to previous Kate Morton novels. To be clear, Kate Morton is still one of my top favorite authors of all time. And I will certainly pre-order all her subsequent books. I am willing to own that I may have been in a peculiar funk when I started reading. Anything is possible.The Clockmaker’s Daughter has the hallmarks of the Kate Morton style (oft-imitated but still unequalled): The juxtaposition of past and present narratives, a tragic mystery in the past that still affects the present, doomed characters, and vivid writing that simply takes my breath away. Add to that a storyline about the Magenta Brotherhood – which is modeled after the Pre-Raphaelites (one of my loves), and The Clockmaker’s Daughter seems to fire all my reading cannons. The evocative descriptions of the settings, seedy London and enchanting Birchwood Manor, as well the passages dealing with Edward Radcliffe’s paintings, bewitched me.Yet, I took an abnormally long time to finish this book. To pinpoint – the multiple storylines and array of characters bogged me down. The cast was simply too vast for me. There were only a few I really cared about and wanted to stay with, primarily Lily and Edward, Pale Joe, Elodie, and Lucy. The others, such as Leonard and Juliet, elicited only frustration on my part, and impatience to get back to the real story. Though they may have felt like digressions, by the end, upon uncovering the truth that “slipped through the cracks of time”, I was again fully invested in the novel and felt haunted by the main characters.“When he turned the handle of the gate, he stood, transfixed, as it opened like the cover of a book onto a scene that seemed too perfect to be real. An effusive garden grew between the flagstone path and the house, foxgloves waving brightly in the breeze, daisies and violets chattering over the edges of the paving stones. The jasmine that covered the garden wall continued its spread across the front of the house, surrounding the multipaned windows to tangle with the voracious red flowers of the honeysuckle creeper as it clambered over the roof of the entry alcove. The garden was alive with insects and birds, which made the house seem still and silent, like a Sleeping Beauty house. Leonard felt, as he took his first step onto the path, as if he were walking back through time; he could almost see Radcliffe and his friends with their paints and easels set up on the lawn beyond the blackberry bramble…”

I am a Kate Morton fan. I found her first novel riveting. And those that followed were good if not as riveting.This is a mixed bag. It’s actually a good story written badly at the beginning & the very end. But, in between I quite enjoyed it.I was sorry I purchased it & wished I could get a refund until about 40 pages in. Morton spends too much time up front introducing the different characters & future threads. The first sentence in the book is an effort at gothic mystery that hit me as too contrived. It’s simply a very slow start. There is a chronology at the end of the book. It helps make sense of the switching back & forth in time highlighting the characters Morton needs to tie together before the end of the book. I think it should be at the beginning because it doesn’t give away anything important about the plot & it helps keep straight who shows up when & where.The entire book is about the life of The Clock Makers Daughter. The opening lines let’s you know she is dead & a spirit. It doesn’t take long to know that the summer of 1862 is the pivotal time in the story. Once Morton gets in to the story, I found it entertaining. I love long stories & this doesn’t disappoint.All of the mysteries of all of the characters begin to unravel at about 90% completion & I would not put it down until I finished. The end, the last page, was such an enormous disappointment I would have slammed it shut if I’d been holding the book. I thought about slamming down my phone for a split second.All of the mysteries are cleared up for the reader. The characters left living at the end are not so lucky & I felt anger at the absence of closure for the characters. I suppose we can imagine the rest of the pieces would fall together eventually. It’s Morton’s desire to leave it on the same gothic note on which it began that spoils it for me.The revelation of what really happened the fateful day in August 1862 was a total surprise & that is the mark of a good story teller. It’s also quite gothic-ally grisly. It had the potential to end so well that the early boredom (& some confusion) could have been forgiven & forgotten. Tying up ends for the reader is not enough. I want closure for the characters. This felt like everyone walked to the ends of the earth & fell off of a cliff.

I read it twice trying to follow plot line. Had to draw a map. Too many characters. I love her other books!

She is one of my favorite authors. Have all her books

Pretty tedious. Good writing at some points, but I just wanted the book to finish. And then it did, and bleh.

Not since reading Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series have I enjoyed reading the written word as much as in Kate Morton’s books. The Lake House is still my all-time favorite of hers. The Clockmaker’s Daughter was also wonderful to read for its rich vocabulary and pleasing-to-my-mind’s eye descriptive sentences. I found the back and forth between time a bit confusing at times and had to retrace my steps to remember the character, but because her writing is such a pleasure to read, I did not mind. Looking forward to my next Kate Morton book for certain!

Creo va de una historia a otra. Lentamente, muy descriptiva mente. Algunos capítulos son buenos. Pero otros eternos. No es mi estilo.

Nachdem ich schon die gedruckte Version gelesen hatte, habe ich mir die Hörbuchversion gekauft und war von dieser genauso begeistert. Gut erzählt, aber man sollte schon mit der britischen Aussprache vertraut sein. Es war wie mit der Druckversion ein Abtauchen in eine andere Zeit und andere Personen, kann ich nur empfehlen.

Good

Un romanzo che viaggia nel tempo e descrive sentimenti, emozioni, paesaggi con una precisione infinita

Una nueva novela de K. Morton que no decepciona. Partiendo de la base que todas sus historias siguen una fórmula general que se repite (un misterio que entrelaza distintos personajes a través del tiempo y que poco a poco se va desvelando), en esta novela creo que Kate se supera. Centrada en una hermosa casa, se entrecruzan más personajes y más historias que nunca, y cada uno con una historia propia y maravillosa que te atrapa en si mismo. Con un entrañable fantasma incluido! Muy entretenida.