The Two Houses, Fran Cooper
The Two Houses, Fran Cooper
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The Two Houses
a gripping novel of buried secrets and those who hide them

Author: Fran Cooper

Narrator: Lucy Paterson

Unabridged: 9 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/22/2018

Synopsis

A novel of buried secrets and the people who hide them, from the author of These Dividing Walls.

After an acclaimed career in ceramics making things and breaking things, it is now Jay herself who has cracked. Recovering from a breakdown, she and her husband Simon move to the desolate edges of the Yorkshire moors, where they find and fall in love with the Two Houses: a crumbling Victorian property whose central rooms were supposedly so haunted that a previous owner had them cut out from the building entirely.

But on uprooting their city life and moving to the sheltered grey village of Hestle, Jay and Simon discover it's not only the Two Houses that seems to be haunted by an obscure past. It becomes increasingly clear that the villagers don't want them there at all - and when building work to make the two houses whole again starts, a discovery is made that will unearth decades-old secrets . . .

(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

About Fran Cooper

Fran Cooper grew up in London before reading English at Cambridge and Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art. She spent three years in Paris writing a PhD about travelling eighteenth-century artists, and currently works in the curatorial department of a London museum. These Dividing Walls is her first novel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Dale on November 18, 2018

Three and a half stars. Jay, an acclaimed artist of ceramics, has a breakdown. Life and its sorrows have become too much for her. In an effort to try and help his dearly loved wife, Simon floats an idea. Simon and Jay decide to buy a weekender out of London. They end up inspecting a property that is......more

Goodreads review by Bookish on August 13, 2018

I'm not even immediately aware of where I heard about this one but when I went on my recent jaunt to Bath it was one of the purchases I made whilst in the spectacular Mr B's Reading Emporium. This book is from start to finish a bit of me. Old spooky house with a history *tick*, a close knit village w......more

Goodreads review by Lucille on February 14, 2018

I loved Fran Cooper's debut These Dividing Walls, set in contemporary Paris, so looked forward to her latest book very much. Once again the reader is immersed in the setting, albeit a completely different one: the Yorkshire Moors, invoked so well I felt I was living there. Jay is recovering from a m......more

Goodreads review by Jane on March 23, 2018

At first glance, this appears to be a ghost story. While the writing style is atmospheric, creepy and gothic, the content is more grounded. The ghosts are emotional, bad memories and entrenched secrets kept by the living rather than the dead. Escaping to the country seems like a rest cure for Jay and......more

Goodreads review by °amirah° on August 19, 2021

4.5 stars. Reading this was a slow yet satisfying experience. The writing is aesthetically pleasing and visually enticing - the further I went into the story, the more I felt transformed into a ghostly wanderer drifting high and wide over a secluded town among the foggy hills. The author handled her......more

Quotes

Superbly written and utterly gripping Daily Mail

Atmospheric with a wonderful cast of characters that prove the depth of Cooper's empathy and talent. Eerie, evocative and captivating, the tension is built masterfully and keeps you guessing as a city couple try to unearth the secrets of an isolated community. The writing is blindingly good. A total triumph.

You'll find yourselves gripping the book as you race towards the thrilling finale East London Guardian

Fran's brilliance lies in her ability to explore the everyday - the seemingly unremarkable lives of individuals. To burrow behind the opposing, uplifting, unpleasant, defiant thoughts of her characters and glimpse the world from a different point of view The Pool

Atmospheric Woman's Weekly

Confident and brilliant

Beautifully written

Superbly written, utterly gripping and has more than a touch of Wuthering Heights and Rebecca Daily Mail

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