The Distant Hours

By: Kate Morton

Narrated by: Caroline Lee

Length: 22 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother’s emotional distance masks an old secret.

Evacuated from London as a 12-year-old girl, Edie’s mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe and taken to live at Milderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters, and their father, Raymond.

Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother’s riddle. She, too, is drawn to Milderhurst Castle and the eccentric sisters Blythe. Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiancé in 1941 plunged her into madness.

Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother’s past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. For the truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it....

©2010 Kate Morton (P)2010 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd

Too much flowery language, not enough story

The overall story was a good if sad one, but there were many times I found myself thinking “lord, get to the POINT” or “just SAY what you mean to say.” And it wasn’t in a “hmm that’s intriguing way.” At one point there were 8 minutes of read time of a flashlight going out, other long explanations of lighting a cigarette that take the story nowhere. The story could have been told in 1/2 the time. The end didn’t surprise or really enlighten, but make me go “yup. Ok. Now it’s over.”

As a lover of WWII fiction this, in my opinion, is NOT a WWII novel. It has some frequent but small references to black outs and rations and battles but no real intersection with the war in any way. And with as many books about WWII heroines written brilliantly to show the courage of the women of that time I found myself thinking these characters were flat and kind of wimpy. I can’t say I liked any of them.

You might enjoy it more if you really like fiction based in historical times, castles and gardens and landscape; or if you like fiction about literary minds or where the fictional characters intersect with fiction in their worlds.

But if you loved The Nightingale, The Alice Network, and Code Name Hélène and are looking for more in that vein you won’t find it here.

Best book in K.Ms Collection

I've read the majority of Kate Morton's books and Distant Hours is like a mystery within a mystery. All of her books, though good, have the same formula. The Same. I enjoy the melding of the past and present, but from the main character's pitiful life to the dark secret from the past it's all the same. Different settings but it gets redundant. The narrator is Australian and she needs to decide if she wants to use her Aussie accent or English one but she doesn't make that much effort to sound "English" at all. Those are my gripes. Other than that...this book was my fave.

Another success

Loved this book. I can't decide which is my favorite so far but I still have 3 to go. On to my next favourite novel

breathtaking!

keeps you wanting more.. just when you think you've figured it out..a new twist!.
this is one of the many reasons I love her work!

It was okay

This is an okay book. It's not fantastic, it's not terrible. It's just kinda... okay. It moves at a stupefyingly slow pace.

The author really likes flowery adjectives and wants to poke them in everywhere, even when they're not really needed. The overall effect is a book that feels bogged down.

Maybe you're supposed to feel like the Mudman character while you're reading this book. Slogging along painfully waiting for it to be over.

Beautiful performance!

Great Kate Morton book and perfect performance by Caroline Lee! A well executed narration can make all the difference, and Lee is SO GOOD. If you liked Forgotten Garden (also Morton/Lee) or Big Little Lies (Liane Moriarty/Lee), you'll like Distant Hours.

I find stories about old family secrets especially intriguing, and Morton keeps you guessing until close to the end.

Love it!!!! Great Narration and beautifully written!

This is my second book to read by Kate Morton, the first being The Forgotten Garden. I found this book to be just as captivating as the first. Morton’s style is so romantic and enchanting that I greatly appreciate the escape I get when I dive in to one of her books.

This narration was absolutely beautiful. Not rushed but not drawn out either. The words seem to float their way through the pages and keep you captivated. I highly recommend this book!!!

Morton Magic

Kate Morton has a gift for painting masterful portraits with words. And Caroline Lee's beautiful voice has become so familiar to my ears, it's almost as if a close friend is walking beside me . . sharing another intriguing story as I go about my very ordinary daily chores.

An epic story told well

There is a careful and interesting structure in the way this story is told that is integral to it's force as a novel. It takes place during WW2 in England (both in London and the country "castle" where an evacuated child was sent) and in the 1990's at both locations. The three ancient sisters who inhabit the castle are subtle and finely drawn, but all the characters are. It is as much about writing as it is about the story being written, but not in a self conscious way. It is not a love story but it is about different kinds of love. Each character is slowly revealed from different points of view through alternating chapters of the war years and the 1990's.

Good but long

Just waaaaaay too long. Found myself skipping and skipping ahead. The story was good but just too much minutia.