The House of Lost Secrets

By: Anstey Harris

Narrated by: Annabelle Dowler, Elle Newlands

She thought she knew her best friend…She was wrong.

The weatherworn cottage Clachan has always been Jo Wilding’s sanctuary, a blissful escape from her tumultuous home life. From the first summer Rachel invited her to join the Willoughby family in the wilds of Scotland, she fell in love with the sea air, sandy beach and Tristan, Rachel’s older brother…

All these years later, Clachan is where their most important occasions and conversations take place, so when Rachel organises a weekend there, Jo never suspects that this weekend will change everything. Because it turns out Rachel has been keeping a secret, a betrayal that plunges Jo into a past she’s spent years trying to forget.

Left to untangle the pieces of their past alone, Jo has to decide if there is such a thing as forgiveness when there is no one left to forgive?

©2024 Anstey Harris (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Gorgeously written, evocative and compelling, The House of Lost Secrets is a heartfelt ode to female friendships. It's a hauntingly beautiful, poignant story about complex relationships and the power of forgiveness. I highly recommend it.” —Sarah J. Harris, author of Meet Me On The Bridge

“The House of Lost Secrets by Anstey Harris is a beautifully crafted study of lifelong friendship. The story is shot through with mystery and those terrible secrets we keep from the people closest to us for fear of destabilising everything we know and believe. This richly layered novel drew me in more deeply with every page turn, holding me tightly until each truth was finally revealed. A truly compelling read.” —Imogen Clark, author of Postcards from a Stranger

Friendship, secrets and finding home

A story of friendship, secrets, forgiveness and finding home. I didn’t quite connect with any characters in this book but it was well written.

Loved this story

The voices were soothing and the beautiful setting made it hard to stop listening. I enjoyed the characters coming of age life experiences, good and sad.

Good but not grounded in time...

...and not convinced they were secrets that would have been kept.

Excellent description of nature and houses but it's not particularly grounded in place and ZERO grounding in time.

For the first chapter, because the audio performer sounds elderly and there's no mention of Rachel or Jo's age, I kept trying to figure out how old these women were. I started with 80 and kept revising down by figuring out R's aunt was X age, therefore... and still. Finally I decide J is in her late 50s or early 60s. Nope, many chapters later the author says early 50s but then I get confused with pregnancy talk in the present and in the past when Jo was married to her second husband. And how old was she then? Now? But she was too old now and then for a baby.

I tried to figure out when this was taking place from the scenes in the present and the past. No luck. So few cultural references and still being unsure of her age... With good writing, it doesn't usually take long to figure this stuff out. I never did and was annoyed it was something I thought about for the whole book until the very end: Rachel: 1968 to 2023.

Still, it was interesting exploration into the grief of a best friend among other topics and I was never bored.

Engaging and complex

Very well written with deep understanding of very complicated dynamics and difficult relationships-not an easy book but a very good one

Such a nice 'listen'.

Not one of my usual type of books and had never read a story by this author, but this book has lead me onto reading more of her books!!!

4 stars!

As the addict best friend in what feels like another life, I am glad I got my act together so I can torture my best friend with a different reason for my death than some form of substance abuse. This book is important and offers such a fresh perspective.

How each character was dealing with their own issues

It was an interesting book. The story does get long and covers some very deep things, overall it was a good book though.

Loved this from the start

This story brought me peace from the start and through to the very end. I believe the time of my life now has something to do with that. I wish I could have read this when I was much younger. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing!

Friendship Defined

This book really delved into the meaning of friendship, the respect for decisions made together and separate from each other. It addressed the differences in society’s response to sexual assault, and availability of counseling for addiction.

The descriptive writing and storyline.

The setting and premise of the story were both engaging in this story. Each held my interest. The detail of the characters was interesting as well.