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Book Review of The Children's Hour

The Children's Hour
Kmarie avatar reviewed on + 529 more book reviews


Nest and Mina, an immensely likable pair of no-longer-young sisters, still live at Ottercombe, the beautiful rambling home of their childhood in the depths of Devon. With echoes of carefree and idyllic days before the war, all around them are reminders of endless holidays playing in the gardens or on the beach, their mother reading them stories in front of the fire and their father driving up from London to visit for the weekend. Tragedy seemed so far away.

So much is different. When their elder sister, Georgie, now frail and forgetful, comes to stay, she brings with her secrets that her sisters would prefer to keep hidden. The threat of Georgie's ramblings upsets the peaceful equilibrium of their lives and forces the sisters to address the issues that they had tried so hard to leave in the past. Although reluctant to face up to these revelations, they gradually realize that they can finally put to rest the ghosts from their past and allow themselves and Ottercombe to embrace new lives and look to the future.