The house of brides : a novel /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Jane Cockram makes her thrilling debut with this page-turning tale of psychological suspense in which a young woman whose life is in tatters flees to the safety of a family estate in England, but instead of comfort finds chilling secrets and lies.



Miranda's life and career has been a roller-coaster ride. Her successful rise to the top of the booming lifestyle industry as a social media influencer led to a humiliating fall after a controversial product she endorsed flopped. Desperate to get away from the hate-spewing trolls shaming her on the internet, she receives a mysterious letter from a young cousin in England that plunges her into a dark family mystery.

Miranda's mother Tessa Summer, a famous author, died when Miranda was a child. The young woman's only connection to the Summer family is through Tessa's famous book The House of Brides--a chronicle of the generations of women who married into the infamous Summer family and made their home in the rambling Barnsley House, the family's estate. From Gertrude Summer, a famed crime novelist, to Miranda's grandmother Beatrice, who killed herself after setting fire to Barnsley while her children slept, each woman in The House of Brides is more notorious than the next. The house's current "bride" is the beautiful, effervescent Daphne, her Uncle Max's wife--a famed celebrity chef who saved Barnsley from ruin turning the estate into an exclusive culinary destination and hotel.

Curious about this legendary family she has never met, Miranda arrives at Barnsley posing as a prospective nanny answering an advertisement. She's greeted by the compelling yet cold housekeeper Mrs. Mins, and meets the children and her Uncle Max--none of whom know her true identity. But Barnsley is not what Miranda expected. The luxury destination and award-winning restaurant is gone, and Daphne is nowhere to be found. Most disturbing, one of the children is in a wheelchair after a mysterious accident. What happened in this house Where is Daphne What darkness lies hidden in Barnsley

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Publishers Weekly Review

In Cockram's atmospheric debut, a clever twist on Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca, a woman hoping to learn more about her deceased mother steps into a wasp's nest of secrets and lies. The reputation and finances of Miranda Summer, an Australian social media influencer, are in ruins after she makes fraudulent claims on her health and wellness app. She receives a letter addressed to her mother, Tessa, an author who died when Miranda was a girl, from Tessa's 12-year-old cousin Sophie, asking for help at the family house. The letter leads the impulsive Miranda to the foreboding, and possibly haunted, Barnsley House, now a renowned English oceanside restaurant and hotel, which Tessa wrote about in her famous--and only--novel, The House of Brides. The intimidating housekeeper Mrs. Mins mistakes Miranda for the new nanny, which Miranda doesn't correct. Miranda's estranged uncle, Max, is aloof, and his wife, Daphne, a famous chef, has stayed in bed since the auto accident that put their daughter, Agatha, in a wheelchair. Miranda senses things aren't quite right in the home, but she enjoys caring for Agatha, Sophie, and their brother, Robbie, and starts piecing together her family's strange history and its extraordinary women. When Daphne disappears, shocking secrets rise to the surface. Miranda, who narrates, is flawed but relatable, and Cockram's plot crackles with tension, hitting all the right notes for readers fond of gothic-flavored tales. (Oct.)

Booklist Review

In this atmospheric and surprising debut, Cockram explores the history of the fictional Summer family and their iconic estate, Barnsley. Miranda Courtenay is an Australian native, a former lifestyle influencer recovering from a public shaming. She's in her mid-twenties, restless, headstrong, and desperate to get away from her controlling father. Miranda's mother died young, but she left behind a bestselling history of her family's estate, The House of Brides. The brides are the many women who have married into the Summer family, including celebrity chef Daphne. Itching to escape, Miranda flies to England, determined to uncover the secrets of Barnsley House using any deception necessary, including posing as a prospective nanny so the family won't know she's a relative. Cockram handles the many threads of this story with ease, keeping the reader guessing as Miranda excavates the house's past and speculates about its future. An ongoing theme of misdirection flows throughout, maintaining the tension and suspense. Fans of Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key (2019) will enjoy this novel with a similar premise.--Cari Dubiel Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A disgraced Australian wellness guru heads up the cast of a du Maurier-inspired thriller."Yesterday I found an article about Barnsley House in an old magazine." Just as this doesn't quite have the resonance of "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again," Cockram's debutcontaining characters named Daphne and Max Summer (not de Winter), an evil housekeeper, a house fire, etc.does not benefit by comparison to its model. So let's forget that for now. " Promise me, Miranda. Promise me not to be ordinary.' Her lip curled slightly at the word. Promise me you'll be an amazing woman too.' " The late Tessa Summer's exhortation to her daughter, Miranda, may have inspired the ambition that led to Miranda's claims that her Instagram-famous healthy recipes could cure infertility, but the only amazing things about her moment in the spotlight are a) that it ever happened, and b) the public humiliation that followed. Now Miranda's appropriated Daddy's credit card and is headed to the English country estate where her mother was raised, currently a destination restaurant and hotel, whose history Tessa wrote about in an international bestseller called The House of Brides. Apparently a compulsive liar, Miranda pretends she's answering an ad looking for a nanny rather than reveal her blood relationship to the Summer family. The littlest child is in a wheelchair, there's a cracked-up car in the driveway, the hotel and restaurant are closed, the kids' uninvolved mother vanishes within days of Miranda's arrival, and on top of all this tsuris, the accidental nanny develops obsessional "cravings for food devoid of any nutritional value." When she tears up upon hearing someone finally say something nice about Tessa, she attributes it to "all the processed food I was eating." One hopes this is supposed to be funny. Parody would have been the best bet for this novel, with its two-dimensional characters, passion for clichs, and bewilderingly overcomplicated plot which relies on novelistic diary passages and closed-circuit security videos to make any sense at all.Amateurish and often laughablebut at least it's not ordinary. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.