The Clockmaker's Daughter is packed with rich historical detail and seductive lyricism . . . An exciting, atmospheric reading treat that moves seamlessly through time and space, and ensures that Morton retains her place in the pantheon of much-loved historical novelists

Préface
The mesmerizing sixth novel from the bestselling author of The House at Riverton and The Lake House.

Auteur
Kate Morton grew up in the mountains of south-east Queensland and now lives with her family in London. She has degrees in dramatic art and English literature, specializing in nineteenth-century tragedy and contemporary gothic novels. Kate has sold over 10 million copies of her novels in thirty-two languages, across thirty-nine countries. The House at Riverton, The Forgotten Garden, The Distant Hours, The Secret Keeper and The Lake House have all been number one bestsellers around the world. The Clockmaker's Daughter is her sixth novel.

Texte du rabat

My real name, no one remembers.
The truth about that summer, no one else knows.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor on the banks of the Upper Thames. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe's life is in ruins.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist's sketchbook containing the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river.

Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? Who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? And will she ever give up her secrets?

Told by multiple voices across time, The Clockmaker's Daughter is a story of murder, mystery and thievery, of art, love and loss. And flowing through its pages like a river, is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history, but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clockmaker's daughter.

Résumé

From the bestselling author of The House at Riverton and The Secret Keeper, Kate Morton brings us her trademark mix of secrets, lies, and intricately layered mysteries in her sixth novel, The Clockmaker's Daughter.

My real name, no one remembers.*
The truth about that summer, no one else knows.

In the depths of a nineteenth-century winter, a little girl is abandoned in the narrow streets of London. Adopted by a mysterious stranger, she becomes in turn a thief, a friend, a muse, and a lover. Then, in the summer of 1862, shortly after her eighteenth birthday, she retreats with a group of artists to a beautiful house on a quiet bend of the Upper Thames . . . Tensions simmer and one hot afternoon a gun-shot rings out. A woman is killed, another disappears, and the truth of what happened slips through the cracks of time.

Over the next century and beyond, Birchwood Manor welcomes many newcomers but guards its secret closely - until another young woman is drawn to visit the house because of a family secret of her own . . .

As the mystery of The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton begins to unravel, we discover the stories of those who have passed through Birchwood Manor since that fateful day in 1862. Intricately layered and richly atmospheric, it shows that, sometimes, the only way forward is through the past.