Book Review: The Girl at the Window by Rowan Coleman

Today I am reviewing The Girl at the Window, a hauntingly beautiful story of love and hope, from the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Memory Book and The Summer of Impossible Things, Rowan Coleman.

Title: The Girl at the Window

Author: Rowan Coleman

Published: August 22nd 2019 by Ebury Press

Amazon | Amazon UK

Blurb: A house full of history is bound to have secrets...

'Spine-tinglingly beautiful. Prepare to lose your heart' Lisa Jewell

Ponden Hall is a centuries-old house on the Yorkshire moors, a magical place full of stories. It's also where Trudy Heaton grew up. And where she ran away from...

Now, after the devastating loss of her husband, she is returning home with her young son, Will, who refuses to believe his father is dead.

While Trudy tries to do her best for her son, she must also attempt to build bridges with her eccentric mother. And then there is the Hall itself: fallen into disrepair but generations of lives and loves still echo in its shadows, sometimes even reaching out to the present...

Review: The Girl at the Window is very different from the other books I've read by Rowan Coleman. To start with, although the main story is set in present day, it has historical, paranormal, gothic and mystery elements intertwined in it. At first I was not sure it was going to pick my curiosity as I was bit confused but once I started finding out more about the characters and their story, especially the historical parts and how they related to the present one, I was hooked.

The atmosphere of the whole book was very eerie and even gave me goosebumps in some parts. I felt like the house of Ponden Hall was one more character, with its own feelings and secrets. I especially enjoyed how Rowan Coleman combined real historical facts with her fiction and with a bit of magic. The plot line definitely surprised me more than once and I had to stay up late a couple nights to find out how the story unfolded.

The multiple narratives worked very well, as we got the chance to get to know all the characters and their eras better. I cared and rooted for them. Although I didn't know much about Emily Brontë's life, since reading this story, I have been reading a lot more about the Brontë family and I am now looking forward to reading Rowan Coleman's new book, The Vanishing Bride (written under the name Bella Ellis), in which the Brontë sisters solve crimes together. 

Rating: 4 stars

I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book via NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.