Alice

by Eva Hanagan

When her aunt Sophie dies, Alice finds herself inheriting a large house on the Sussex Downs. Returning to the haunts of her youth, she meets Paul, owner of an antique shop. When she realizes he has bought valuable antiques from Sophie's house for tiny amounts of money, she sets out to trick him.

244 pages, Hardcover

First published January 16, 1997

Reviews

[Bonnye Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

GA I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Eva Hanagan and Emma Shacklock of Endeavor Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you both, for sharing your work with me.

This is an excellent, fast British read with people you can care about. Alice has lost her husband, her grown son is dependent on her for everything but without appreciation or awareness, and her favorite Aunt Sophie goes through failing health and dementia, passing just before Alice's husband's death, also after a lingering, debilitating illness. Aunt Sophie leaves Alice the family's country home, Fernhurst, adding to her sense of guilt over her failure to understand the gravity of her aunt's illness.

Trying to decide what to do with the the family home and remove herself from the pain, anger and frustration that she feels about many things, Alice leaves her son and his girl in her city place and travels to Fernhurst. There things are confusing. Why did Aunt Sophie live and die her last years in that little bare box room off of the master bedroom rather than in the big comfortable room she inherited on the death of the matriarch of the family, Grandma? What happened to many of the small treasures usually on display throughout the house? What happened to Nancy, the housekeeper of many years, and why was she left out of the will?

With the help of acquaintances from her childhood, her aunts lawyer and her own old school administrator, Miss Vine, Alice is able find closure and serenity. This was an excellent mood elevator....

[Karen Mace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I voluntarily reviewed this thanks to NetGalley

Thought the cover was absolutely beautiful on NetGalley with all the floral detail, so that drew me in and then the blurb made it sound quite enticing as the story followed Alice through some tough times and how she dealt with those around her.

But unfortunately I found the story to be quite flat and it only really picked up over half way through when she started to discover a few secrets and duplicitous behaviour. I found a lot of the characters to be quite hard to take to as they all seemed to take advantage of one another and there seemed very little compassion around.

I thought the language was beautifully descriptive and I would have enjoyed this more if it had maybe dealt maybe with the dynamics of the family a little better and maybe uncovered some of the secrets a little earlier in the story.

[Venessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alice is displaced. Grieving for her husband, she is living with the guilt of feeling that she hadn’t quite done enough for her Aunt Sophie, who has bestowed her worldly goods upon her after her death – namely a large house. Feeling squeezed out of her own apartment by her loud living son and his wife, she moves in to the large house on the Sussex Downs. Here she begins to find her way again, with old school friends and a feisty ex-headmistress, and a curio shop, whose owner Paul she drinks coffee with (and would like to do a whole lot more). However, when she decides to make right the faux pas in the will left by Aunt Sophie, she inadvertently discovers that Paul, has been rather more sneaky and a whole lot less charming that she originally thought. This gentle story (it won’t be rushed) is brought to its surprising end in a subtle and understated way, and Alice is, we hope, renewed.

For readers of The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan, and The House of Birds by Morgan McCarthy, this rambling, weaving tale, is a Saturday afternoon in the garden with a gin and tonic glinting in the sunlight.

I received a free copy of this kindle edition via NetGalley.

[Lisa Bentley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before I started reading Alice by Eva Hanagan I foolishly looked at the star rating on Goodreads. It was stuck on two stars. I am split as to if I think this is fair or not.

I think it is a little unfair. Alice isn’t a bad novel. It is written very much in a style of how the Southern, older, upper-middle class generation is likely to sound (all stereotypes being adhered to). It is a story of old friends, antique forgery and a bit of mystery.

Alice is a novel that tries hard but in a weird sense is hard to appreciate or empathise with. The writing is very stylised and the story is good. It just doesn’t have mass appeal.

Alice by Eva Hanagan is available now.

For more information regarding Endeavour Press (@EndeavourPress) please visit www.endeavourpress.com.

[Kirsty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't read much of this, but what I did read felt quite flat. Other reviews which I've read suggest that it never quite reaches its full potential, and whilst I only read around 10% of the book, I hasten to agree.