The Sacred Combe

by Thomas Maloney

Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2017

WANTED:

Diligent volunteer to carry out two months’

painstaking archival work for private library.

Board and lodging provided;

curiosity and imagination rewarded.

When Samuel Browne’s wife unexpectedly leaves him, his world crumbles — until he spies this job advert hidden between the pages of a second-hand book. It leads him deep into the English countryside, to a new job in a cold and ancient house.

Sam must find a lost letter, hidden in a library of eighteen thousand books. As he sets to work under the watchful eyes of the house’s eccentric inhabitants, he soon realises that this is not the only mystery that this strange, seductive place holds …

Genres: Gothic, Literary Fiction, Books About Books, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 2016

About the author

Thomas Maloney was born in Kent in 1979, grew up in London, and studied Physics at Oxford. His first novel, The Sacred Combe, was published in 2016. He lives in Oxfordshire with his family.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sam Browne’s wife has left him, not because they are unhappy, but because she feels they could both be happier. He is also disillusioned with his job as a merchant banker (well obviously, who wouldn’t be). He feels his life is falling apart. He purchases an eight volume edition of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall. Inside one of the volumes is the following advertisement:
WANTED
Diligent volunteer to carry out two months’
Painstaking archival work for private library.
Board and lodging provided;
Curiosity and imagination rewarded.
Please telephone Miss S, Synder on
01902 650 0000
Well, who could resist. Sam certainly could not. The novel sort of meanders along at a gentle pace with an interesting, but small, cast of characters. It has a modern setting, but really could have been set at any time in the last hundred years or so. there are plenty of literary references, a country setting, a family puzzle going back to the eighteenth century, a garden with a hidden temple (a temple to reason), a typical rather old country house and a magnificent library. As one review says, it is a bit of a “gothic pastiche”.
There is one glorious description of the library:
“My first glance through the doorway revealed two vast windows overlooking a perfect lawn, white with frost. I advanced into a much larger room, looked around, and up, and back. What I saw was books. I was standing in a cathedral to books.
There was a fireplace at each end of the room, nearer the window side, with a narrow green carpet running from one hearth to the other, perhaps twelve yards, in front of the window. Above each fireplace hung a large and age-darkened portrait in a heave frame. A gallery with slender iron railings, reached by a spiral stair in the corner, ran along the long back wall and part of another wall at half height, and near the centre of the dark oak floor stood a huge folio table. Two iron chandeliers hung from the distant, ghostly expanse of coiling plasterwork, and a squat leather armchair stood at each window.
With the exception of the object I have mentioned so far, it was all books”
Eighteen thousand in all and the task was to find a lost letter hidden somewhere in one of them. The book is meditative, sometimes rather sad and it meanders along at a fairly slow pace. I didn’t like the ending because it felt far too knowing and the main character Sam was a bit tiresome at times. The world Sam enters feels entirely self-enclosed, something apart from reality. That attracted and repelled me at the same time. There was a lyrical and haunting quality about it, but I felt a certain amount of ambivalence.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a novel that spoke of many things that I love - in life and in literature.

It held: a country house; an intriguing family history; a lovely garden; and a great many books and literary allusions.

It was so thoughtfully and elegantly written that a reader might chose how they wanted to journey through the text: sailing through, enjoying the story and the scenery; wandering along, pausing to reflect on things that catch attention; progressing slowly, to be sure of missing absolutely nothing.

I took the middle path, and I had a lovely, lovely time.

The story began with Samuel Browne, a successful merchant banker who had been abandoned by his wife. Not because they had been unhappy but because she had known that they weren't as happy as the should have been, and because she wanted each of them to have the chance of discovering whatever in the world might make each of them truly happy.

He was adrift, and he turned first to his books and then to a second-hand bookshop on Charing Cross Road, where he hoped that he would find a book that could offer him something new. He took home twelve volumes that made up 'The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' by Edward Gibbon. He read and read, until somewhere in the seventh volume he found that a card had been pasted to one of the pages that the printer had left blank.



He is amused but he is also intrigued, and so he calls the number on the card. A short conversation inspires him to leave his job and to travel deep into the English countryside to Combe Hall; a lovely house that had been built in the 1600s, that was still a family home, and that housed a private library holding more than eighteen thousand books and three centuries of correspondence.

"My first glance through the doorway revealed two vast windows overlooking a perfect lawn, white with frost. I advanced into a much larger room, looked around, and up, and back. What I saw was books. I was standing in a cathedral to books.

There was a fireplace at each end of the room, nearer the window side, with a narrow green carpet running from one hearth to the other, perhaps twelve yards, in front of the window. Above each fireplace hung a large and age-darkened portrait in a heave frame. A gallery with slender iron railings, reached by a spiral stair in the corner, ran along the long back wall and part of another wall at half height, and near the centre of the dark oak floor stood a huge folio table. Two iron chandeliers hung from the distant, ghostly expanse of coiling plasterwork, and a squat leather armchair stood at each window.

With the exception of the object I have mentioned so far, it was all books ..."

Sam's sole task as 'archivist' is to search painstakingly through the books in a private library, to find a letter that was carefully hidden in a book. His employer, Arnold Comberbache, will not tell him why the letter must be found, but he does tell him that the letter may be valuable, and is certainly invaluable to his family.

As he travels along shelves and up and down library ladders the two men talk, allowing Sam to come to terms with his own situation and to learn a great deal about the fascinating history of the Comberbache. Comments written in the books’ margins, notes tucked between the pages, help to bring the past to life. Conversations with visiting family friends and other family members give him new insights.

" 'A house does not need ghosts to be haunted,' she said at last, without turning. 'Memory is enough, if there's someone there to remember.' "

The untangling of the Comberbache family story and the story of Samuel Browne coming to understand who he is and what he wants to do with his life are woven together beautifully.

But for as long as he stays, he will be utterly absorbed in the life of Combe Hall. He is captivated by the gardens that are tended by a young gardener known to the family as 'Young Meaulnes'. He is fascinated by the family's 'temple' that was built in woodland to help them to appreciate light and the movement of celestial bodies. He was provided with home comforts by Miss Snyder, who proved to be the finest of family retainers.

It was almost as if the house and grounds were a whole world.

Was it a whole world?

Had his task been what it had seemed?

The puzzle is complex and fascinating, the gothic overtones are lovely, the literary allusions are beautifully judged, and the story plays out beautifully.

It's a lovely mediation about the possibilities that life offers, about the things that books can give us, and about the relationship between past, present and future.

The end of the story is open to interpretation. I knew what I thought, but this wasn't a book about finding answers, it was a book about continuing to ask questions and make new discoveries.

There was much that felt familiar, and yet this book felt like nothing else I have read. It absorbed me just as much as Samuel Browne's quest absorbed him, and it is such an accomplished debut novel.

[Helene Jeppesen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was certainly a puzzling one! It's the story of Sam Browne whose wife has suddenly and shockingly left him. But more than that, it's the story of what happens to Sam afterwards as he finds work at The Sacred Combe, a secured and secret place that contains a library of thousands of books.
The main story was puzzling, but intriguing, because of the actual job Sam is set to do (I don't want to give it away here). But while I was intrigued to read about this occupation of his and Sam's endeavour to forget about his broken heart, the way that the story is heavy on descriptions of nature and thoughts on e.g. death, loss and writing lost me, and I oftentimes found myself disconnected to the narrative.
This is probably one of those books that I will have to think about for a few days in order to find out with myself what it's really about. For now, I can certainly admit that it was - for the most parts - an enjoyable read, but certainly a puzzling one!

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young man explores the secrets of a manor house library in this measured debut novel. This is roughly contemporary (perhaps set in the early 2000s), but Samuel’s narration is highly old-fashioned, full of descriptive prose passages and detached, elevated language. The story could just as easily be taking place in the 1920s or 1950s. I loved the novel’s setup – who wouldn’t relish a chance to explore such a library? – but found the plot a little sleepy. Come expecting a deliciously bookish mystery like The Thirteenth Tale or A.S. Byatt’s Possession and you may well be disappointed. However, the physical book is gorgeously presented and Maloney has a distinctive style. I’d compare this to John Fowles’s The Magus, another mystical story set in a timeless place.

See my full review at Nudge.

[Eric Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s a special pleasure in finding something another reader has left in a used book. While reading you might come across a train ticket, a receipt or a passage in the text that’s been emphatically underlined. Suddenly you find yourself connected to an unknown reader from some period in the past. If you have a curious and imaginative mind you might wonder if the previous owner read this book while on a busy journey or alone in a study. Did she/he finish it? What did she/he think about it? It’s a unique feeling of connectedness that’s entirely different from the enjoyment of cracking open a pristine new book. “The Sacred Combe” is a family saga told not by immersing the reader in specific stories about different generations, but providing flashes from their lives which have been left in their enormous library. The narrator and the reader of this novel must piece together their story from what scraps of personal information different family members have left within the books that they read.

Read my full review of The Sacred Combe by Thomas Maloney on LonesomeReader

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then you stumble on something wonderful that is just a joy to read and you enjoy every word- this is a book to treasure. Thank you Thomas Maloney. Recommended for reading next to the fire on a winter's afternoon.

[Leah Moyse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read via The Pigeonhole...

This is a story that leaves much to the imagination but nevertheless manages to provide a fully immersive narrative. I found it utterly absorbing and was mesmerised by the riveting and lyrical prose. For me this book is a celebration of the written word, it is a celebration of books, libraries and in many instances I found it to be a philosophical take on life and death and the stamp that we can make and should make on the world around us.

Sam Browne's life has taken a turn for the unexpected. Everything he has thought he had planned out falls by the wayside and he grows the courage to go on a journey and dare to dream of something different. It is here that he goes to work for Arnold Comberbache and they form an unlikely alliance in their search for a mystery letter and answers to secrets that have been carried for years and years.

There is a Gothic feel to the house of our story, but by god I want to live there. Full of mystery, intrigue and the best bit - thousands and thousands of books. This book is packed full of little snippets of puzzle like information and references to many great revered texts and pieces of art. I have to make an omission here and say that I didn't seem to pick out texts like many others did - I have never been much of a reader of the classics. I do want to point out that this in no way spoiled the flow of the story or my interpretation of this great book.

This book reminds me of the fact that writing is an art much like the paintings that hang on the walls in the ancient library, it has the power to survive all of us and goes beyond just our existence. I love the fact that even the cover is like a picture frame.

This is a story for me of crossroads, a story of reflection and about taking stock before moving forward with the next stage in life. It is OK to surround yourself in a cocoon but sometimes it will be the right time to move forward.

There were many times during this book that it felt very reflective and the author alluded to silence many times, this gave the story an almost meditative state. There is much discussion of nature and birds and the author clearly has an affinity for both. The passages about both of these things are for me when the book shone most.

I found this book to be unusual, lyrical and a piece of literary fiction that I hope goes down in the archives as one to remember from this generation. Superb stuff.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read this on Pigeonhole I fervently consumed the early chapters. Enjoying the otherworldly nature of the Combe and its inhabitants; initially feeling as foreign as those of the mentioned Cold Comfort Farm and slowly with the exploration of the library they became warm accompaniments to the task at hand. I may have fallen victim to the slight ebb of the middle of the novel taking a few months to return and finish the book, but was glad my persistence was rewarded, as when the true nature of the story is finally unfurled it gives the whole book a new light. Its Keyser Söze moment. I think I will not be the only reader who on finishing considers starting at the beginning a new, possibly with a note book at hand. The book feels like a portrait of Elizabeth I jammed with symbolism not always understood, or the beginning of an incredibly complex mystery which should be solved with scraps of paper pinned to a wall connected with bits of string, however there is no Hercule Poirot to tie everything tidily together. Having not yet reread the book I cannot tell if there is really a crumb trail to something more than my initial understanding, or if it is indeed intended to leave you wondering.

Overall Sacred Combe was a book I enjoyed allot, it is a slow and complex thriller of sorts. But one that has unlike any other book made me consider nature, life and my surroundings, pushed to spend more time reading, exploring, drawing and listening to classical music... noble pursuits in this technological age. The book appealed to my Holmes like love of detail and puzzle, which was fleshed out even more by the author added elements on Pigeonhole. I would expect that the tone and literary references would not be to all tastes, but I was able to remain unpatronised by the unknown references and instead treat each citation as either the beginning of some tangental research into an author/invention/painting or where less personally interesting a minor sidetone the continuation of the story. A little like stopping to read sections of books while searching the Combes library.

I would definitely recommend the book for those willing to persist with it where there seems to be less of a definate bearing to the story, as the book certainly takes a scenic route to the conclusion. But it is an enjoyable journey and the views are worth the hike.

[Ghengis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear. I read this book as a free serialisation from the Pigeonhole. It is Mr. Maloney's first novel but it reads like a first draft. He has some great ideas which never go anywhere e.g. a visit to a tree house and a trek up a mountain which seem to be just fillers. The story is set in the late twentieth century but the characters all speak as though they have walked out of a Dickensian novel. The narrator is clearly based on on the author. (Hint, no-one cares about your 2.1). He is clearly very proud of it since he feels the need to mention it twice.

I fear the most prescient part of the novel is at the end where the narrator muses that the text might be seen as pretentious and his future may lie once once again in banking. I'm inclined to agree.

The ideas in the novel have great potential which is never explored, the characters are one dimensional parodies from Alice in Wonderland. There is good descriptive narrative which has a tendency to dominate at the expense of any real characterisation or plot.

I'm sure Mr. Maloney could turn out a decent novel with a bit more application. However unlike his alter ego in the book it is likely to take more than 17 weeks. It depends whether he has the enthusiasm or patience. It might be more lucrative and less frustrating to return to banking having a least had a go.

[Jorrit Wouters · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'I like trains,' he declared in a level murmur without turning his head, as though we were birdwatchers in the presence of a rare flock. 'But sometimes I lose the knack of them, and feel a silent rant against humanity rise up within me.' He paused for a moment, perhaps checking that no one else had heard him, then continued in his low monotone: "'Look at yourselves!" the rant says, "Reading your tawdry papers and thumbing your gadgets! Overwhelmed by cleverness and anxiety, good intentions and a terminal loss of imagination, fooled by sly convention, cripples by the woes of specialised competence and the joys of generalised ignorance, like circus animals when the crowds have lost interest. Come away, you silly oxen! The combe awaits you! There is no guard to bribe, no gate to keep the riff-raff out! Come away! Do not go gently into that London Lite!'" He again fell silent for a few seconds. 'Then I recover myself, open my senses, observe the ever-renewing gallery of expressions on preoccupied faces, notice a familiar book in an unlikely hand, catch a coded fragment of lovers' talk or the friendly words exchanged by strangers, maybe meet someone's idly wandering gaze and look away. Yes, I like trains.'

[Anne Goodwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the stereotypical librarian, Sam is a quiet character, somewhat passive in his failure to fight for his former wife. He seems more interested in exploring the lives of others than living his own. Through him, we discover the loves and losses of the family that has occupied the hall for over two centuries. With Sam’s unworldliness and the Gothic style of the novel reminiscent of the Brontës, including addressing the reader directly, it’s easy to similarly get lost in the past and overlook the novel’s contemporary setting.
Full review http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/1/post/...

[Karina Ames · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, meditative novel that invites the reader to pause and reflect on the life of both the admittedly passive main character and their own life. Most scenes contemplate the workings of nature, a fireplace or philosophical question, drawing the reader through a series of literal and figurative paths that lead them to speculate on how they will redirect their own life once they leave the combe. The novel invites a good glass of wine and comfortable armchair - settle in and forget about the rush of your day in its quiet spaces.

[Jane Munro · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing read that had me captivated from beginning to end. Written in beautifully descriptive prose which brings all the senses to life. For me, it contained a haunting sensation I couldn't quite put my finger on until the very last paragraph.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this serialised on The Pigeonhole, and really enjoyed the experience. The book is beautifully written, but perhaps a little too literary for me. Still trying to work out what I make of the twist at the end. All in all a very enjoyable experience.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it’s the general state of the world and my relatedly destroyed attention span, but I could not quite grasp this book and so spent a great deal of time trying to claw my focus back. It started out strong and ended confusingly and I mostly finished it out of grim determination.

I do think it might make a better movie.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas Maloney’s first novel The Sacred Combe is not exactly what it seems. The protagonist Samuel Browne’s wife has left him. Afterwards, looking for in books, he finds a mysterious post-it note inside a copy of Gibbon’s Decline and Fall. What follows is an invitation to the enigmatic Combe Hall, an introduction to a cast of eccentrics, and a missing letter. So far, all of the ingredients of a classic literary mystery but The Sacred Combe is not quite that. Instead, what follows is unusual and elegant novel which refuses to slot neatly into a literary category.

The book’s central preoccupation is Combe Hall: the old country house, its gardens and their changing seasons. Maloney spends time writing descriptions of the architecture and the area’s flora and fauna. The effect is a slowly building sense of atmosphere with echoes of The Secret Garden. The Sacred Combe has been written in way to evoke books from a similar era. Though set in the modern day, the language and characters are anachronisms. The effect is cosy without being sentimental.

Samuel Browne is not alone at Combe Hall. There is the elderly owner and Rose, his 17-year-old charge with an unexplained scar. Other characters come and go, the most notable being Corvin the “the ruddy-faced pantisocratist.” Maloney has a gift for giving his characters substance, no matter how briefly they appear in the text. That being said, some of the more prominent characters fade in a frustrating way as the book continues. The narrator himself remains mysterious. His habit of addressing the reader makes him particularly hard to pin down. There are reminders throughout that the narration is self-conscious and so possibly misleading.

This is in keeping with the novel’s concern with the relationship between fiction and truth. Early on there is an opportunity for Samuel to find out more about the letter he is searching for. He chooses not to look. The secret at the center of the book goes unrevealed only because he chooses to have it that way. It’s almost a wink at the reader, reminding them what they are reading is fiction.

As much as anything else, The Sacred Combe is a paean to books and reading. The better part of the narrative takes place in Combe Hall’s extensive library. There Samuel thumbs through authors, real and imagined. There are frequent thinly veiled references to Thomas Chatterton, the teenage poet and forger, to whom the book is dedicated.

In the end, Maloney manages an unusual balance between character and setting. His real interest often seems less in people than in place. This returns full circle, however, through his concern with the effect that place has on personality. The result is a highly original, atmospheric novel. At one point, Samuel reacts to another character’s plan to write a book. “Is that all? I thought. One more mumbling book to add to these thousands. Is that really the noblest and best path he can imagine?” Whether a book is worth writing (or reading) is a question worth asking. Here the answer is clearly ‘yes.’

[Jaffareadstoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samuel Browne is a singularly good man, but is set adrift when his marriage to the mysterious Sarah falls apart, and so, with his life and career in banking at a crossroads, he answers an enigmatic advertisement to act as a volunteer archivist in a private library. With nothing to lose, Samuel undertakes the journey to meet with Arnold Comberbache, and therein starts seventeen weeks of an adventure which will change Samuel's perception of life forever.

Deep in the British country side, in a wonderfully, atmospheric country house, Samuel is instructed to search for a lost letter, which could be hidden in any of the books in Arnold's magnificent library. Searching through shelves of books, which run into many thousands, in order to find this precious letter, Sam could be forgiven for skimping on the task, but as I have said, Sam is a good man and he throws himself into this unusual assignment with quiet reserve and excellent fortitude.

Steeped in mystery and alive with Gothic mysticism, I soon became joyously absorbed in the many faceted life of the Sacred Combe, and with great delight, I followed both Arnold and Samuel as they went about their daily business. Their quiet companionship, their delight in books and music, and Samuel’s tentative exploration into the hidden delights of the gardens around the house, are all so beautifully observed that it really feels like you tiptoe in their shadow.

The Sacred Combe is the story of a family, of its links with the past, and of the repercussions of family tragedies, which continue to reverberate down through time. It’s also a story about a profound love for books, of the glorious mysteries they contain and of the hopes and dreams which are to be found within their pages.

There’s such a quiet observational style to the novel, that the subtlety of its narrative sort of creeps up on you, until you feel the words wash over you like a comforting blanket. Its lingering lyricism reminded me of the writing of Frances Hodgson Burnett in The Secret Garden and the delicate tracery of poetic description made the book a delight to read from start to finish.

[Chris Jefferson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you for this book. I thought that it began really well. I was intrigued by the characters and their relationships. I loved the descriptive passages so much that I could almost smell the library. But I was disappointed leading towards the end. The characters came together and then all moved on in different directions. It was as though they had little impact on each other. I wanted more to happen other than shelving books and walks in the countryside. There was mystery but but when revealed it was quite ordinary. A book with so much potential that just did not happen.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Goodreads.
This was an intriguing read. The author makes much use of descriptive text. For a while, I found this challenging, but once I came to grips with it, the story became quite fascinating. Part mystery, part family tale, this book can be considered on a number of levels. An enjoyable read.

[Laurence · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're into books about books, then this is for you. As debut novels go, this is a startlingly assured effort from Thomas Maloney, who barely puts a foot wrong in this wonderfully rich evocation of life inside an ancient library. This novel is a paean to the careful work of a researcher; a restatement of faith in life as a slow, careful pursuit, not a clumsy rushed affair.
Sit back and enjoy.

[Mervyn Cartwright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is magnificent for the prose. There is much beauty in each carefully crafted paragraph. The plot draws you into a world of mystery, exotic yet pedestrian. I read this with the pidgeonhole app which gives access to other readers notes in the margins, pieces of poetry, music etc.
Thoroughly recommended.

[Teena · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow book, written in the gothic style, full of flourishes and descriptions but not a lot of storyline - a book I did not particularly enjoy until I was two-thirds through - in fact, it helped me sleep well which is why I persevered. But suddenly I began to understand it more and my enjoyment grew.

[Bookwormthings · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 'lost letter' and a library. Nothing much happens in this book, it's more of a mediation on love, loss and grief. Still, I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to, a good listen out of limited books available during lockdown. Definitely not time wasted and I will probably recommend it to others who like their stories challenging but without sex or violence.

[Wendy Orr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, rather unusual novel in that although set in relatively current times, the narrator and the pace feel as if they're from a much earlier period, without it feeling old fashioned. I listened to it in audio and intend to read it in print as well.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, it reminded me of The Secret History for some reason - not quite sure why. Beautiful prose, and really wanted to be at the Combe after a while!

[Tracey White · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! A book about books and nature with human interest thrown in, totally enjoyable.

[PJ Who Once Was Peejay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would seem that Thomas Maloney is an admirer of the novelist John Fowles and this work does have something of a lesser Fowles feel. I was a big John Fowles fan at one time though I haven't read any of his works for decades and have no idea whether they would hold up. My tastes have changed, my life experiences have evolved. (Or devolved according to one's POV, but this review is only tangentially about myself--as all reviews by anyone are tangentially about themselves. I'm moving on from that.) Initially I was going to give it 3 stars then thought 4 stars and bounced back and forth quite a bit.


From the start when reading The Sacred Combe (a phrase from John Fowles!) I felt it was a book from another era. Not Victorian, more recent than that, but not contemporary (though it was published in 2016). Modernist or postmodernist maybe. It's slyly self-conscious in that pomo way. 


This is a character and setting driven novel rather than plot-driven. I'm certainly okay with that, though the characters at times seem more like set pieces than fully fleshed works of the imagination. It's a tricksy novel, full of literary allusions, some more obvious than others. It has secrets that once revealed are more "Oh, okay," rather than stunningly revelatory. Things seem about to happen then they don't. The story is told in a wandering way with lush nature writing that at times walks the line of being over written.


Am I glad I read it? Well, I finished it. I no longer finish books that aren't giving me *something.* So that tells you…something. Am I satisfied with having finished? I don't know. It's not only a tricksy novel but pondery with a placid surface. Perhaps I should have done more pondering before writing this review, but I'm done pondering. I woke up with the need to write down my thoughts and move on. And I suppose that, too, tells you…something.

[Tredaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed it, but am not too sure what to make of this 21st century romantic Gothic quest tale. It had all the ingredients - a crumbling manor in Yorkshire, a lost soul protagonist, a lost letter in a huge ancestral library, an orphaned protégée and echoes of a romantic past of poets and lives cut short - a bit of Dickens, Wilkie Collins, seasoned with a touch of Bronte. It was compelling and well written but the plot lacked tension and the storyline was a bit all over the place. If I could have given it a three and a half, that would have been my score, but rounded it up rather than down as it was enjoyable. A Good Reads giveaway.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, wonderful book. I love books with literary (and in this case musical) nods; thanks to this novel I discovered Allegri's Miserere. 'How will I know when it gets to the high treble?' I thought; ah, no problem there! Beautiful. Now for The Brothers Karamazov and Keats. As Mr Maloney says, 'Ignorance ... should be a steady force, a driver of exploration and discovery'.

And of the novel itself? I am not a wordsmith. I didn't know why I loved it so much. I looked through some reviews and several people spoke of it as a meditation and yes, that's exactly it for me. I wish I'd bought the hardback, because I'll be going back to this novel again and again.

[Nigel Greaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book this. I read it to the end and was constantly waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. Could not really work out what the book was supposed to be about, but that was probably just me!