House of Silence - Tapa blanda

A country house mystery... A family drama... A romantic comedy...
REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM in Linda Gillard's complex novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE (selected for Amazon UK's "Top Ten Best of 2011" in the Indie Author category.)

SYNOPSIS

"My friends describe me as frighteningly sensible, not at all the sort of woman who would fall for an actor. And his home. And his family."

Orphaned by drink, drugs and rock n' roll, Gwen Rowland is invited to spend Christmas at her boyfriend Alfie's family home, Creake Hall - a ramshackle Tudor manor in Norfolk. Soon after she arrives, Gwen senses something isn't quite right. Alfie acts strangely toward his family and is reluctant to talk about the past. His mother, a celebrated children's author, keeps to her room, living in a twilight world, unable to distinguish between past and present, fact and fiction.

When Gwen discovers fragments of forgotten family letters sewn into an old patchwork quilt, she starts to piece together the jigsaw of the past and realises there's more to the family history than she's been told. It seems there are things people don't want her to know.

And one of those people is Alfie...

~~~

Praise for Linda Gillard's 4th novel HOUSE OF SILENCE...

"A story layered deep in pretence and secrecy, HOUSE OF SILENCE provides readers with the puzzle-solving pleasure of golden age detective fiction, complete with letter fragments from the past and the gothic backdrop of Creake Hall. The writing is sharp and crisp, with an edge of dark humour... I loved it."
ROSY THORNTON (The Tapestry of Love)

"HOUSE OF SILENCE is one of those books you'll put everything else on hold for."
CORNFLOWER'S BOOK BLOG

"The family turns out to have more secrets than the Pentagon... I enjoyed every minute of this book. It's written with considerable panache and humour, despite the fact that there's a very serious underlying thread to the book - how do we, as individuals and families, deal with tragedy?"
KATHLEEN JONES (Margaret Forster: A Life in Books)

"A totally engaging read, full of warmth and perception."
VICTORIA CONNELLY (A Weekend with Mr Darcy)

~~~

Praise for Linda Gillard's other novels...

"Haunting, lyrical and intriguing."
ISLA DEWAR (Keeping up with Magda)

"I can heartily recommend Linda Gillard... Excellent."
ADELE GERAS (Facing the Light)

"The emotional power in these novels makes this reviewer reflect on how Charlotte and Emily Bronte might have written if they were living and writing now."
NORTHWORDS NOW

Award-winning author Linda Gillard lives in the Scottish Highlands. She's been an actress, journalist and teacher and is the author of six novels, including STAR GAZING, short-listed in 2009 for "Romantic Novel of the Year" and HOUSE OF SILENCE, a Kindle bestseller selected by Amazon UK as one of their Top Ten "Best of 2011" in the Indie Author category. Linda's latest novel is THE GLASS GUARDIAN, a paranormal love story set on the Isle of Skye.