The Housekeeper's Secret - by Iona Grey (Hardcover)

About the Book

A sweeping romance set in a crumbling mansion at the turn of the 20th century, where as the days darken, the secrets within grow harder to keep

Book Synopsis

"This BEAUTIFULLY-WRITTEN HISTORICAL is a SUMPTUOUS, PAGE-TURNING DELIGHT
filled with an enticing mix of FORBIDDEN ROMANCE and buried secrets."
--Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

Duty, desire, and deception reside under one roof.

Standing in the remote windswept moors of Northern England, Coldwell Hall is the perfect place to hide. For the past five years, Kate Furniss has maintained her professional mask so carefully that she almost believes she is the character she has created: Coldwell's respectable housekeeper.

It is the summer of 1911 that brings new faces above and below the stairs of Coldwell Hall--including the handsome and mysterious new footman, Jem Arden. Just as the house's shuttered rooms open, so does Kate's guarded heart to a love affair that is as intense as it is forbidden. But Kate can feel her control slipping as Jem harbors secrets of his own.

Told in alternating timelines from the last sun-drenched summer of the Edwardian Age to the mud-filled trenches of WWI, The Housekeeper's Secret opens its door to a world of romance, the truths we hold onto, and the past we must let go.

"RICH IN ATMOSPHERE AND BRIMMING WITH INTRIGUE, THE HOUSEKEEPER'S SECRET IS NOT TO BE MISSED!"
-Amanda Skenandore, award-winning author of The Nurse's Secret

"BRILLIANTLY RESEARCHED...I rooted for Kate, fell completely in love with Jem, and will hold their unforgettable story close for a very long time to come."
-Jenny Ashcroft, author of Island in the East and The Officer and the Spy

Review Quotes

"Downton Abbey gets a dark and delicious twist...haunting and heart-rending...Readers will breathlessly wait to learn the fates of Kate and Jem in this fabulous story." - Bookpage (starred review)

"A stirring tale of love, hope, and heartbreak... Grey's discerning eye for historical detail resonates, bringing the characters' journeys and conflicts emotionally alive." - Booklist

"The upstairs-downstairs historical novel is practically a genre in itself. The Housekeeper's Secret, which transports us to the Derbyshire countryside in 1911, has all the right elements: an isolated and slightly seedy 50-room mansion, a beautiful housekeeper who looks way too refined for her station, a suspiciously eager new footman, various superstitious maids and a strangely silent local boy, as well as an arrogant, recently installed heir, determined to make the most of his mousy bride's fortune. Add the servants' whispers about an unsolved disappearance at a long-ago shooting party and you have a plot Daphne du Maurier would have applauded." - The New York Times, '6 Engrossing Historical Novels to Keep the Chill Away'

"A fervent upstairs-downstairs drama...Grey's insightful narrative sheds light on ways in which the war 'jolted [Britain's servant class] out of their 'torpor, ' as one former Coldwell servant puts it, opening new opportunities for factory work and military service. This will keep readers turning the pages." - Publishers Weekly

"Moving from the heartbreak and terror of the Western Front, to the closed, deeply atmospheric below stairs world of Coldwell Hall, this brilliantly researched and beautifully written novel had me captivated from the moment I read its intensely moving opening pages, not letting me go again until I tearfully turned the last. I rooted for Kate, fell completely in love with Jem, and will hold their unforgettable story close for a very long time to come." - Jenny Ashcroft, author of Island in the East and The Officer and the Spy

"A wildly atmospheric and impeccably researched gothic romance, The Housekeeper's Secret will stay with you long past the final page." - Diana Biller, author of Hotel of Secrets

"I adored it. So evocative and emotive, as Iona's writing always is, immersing me in time and place. So rich in detail and emotion. I was so invested and the ending caught me by surprise. I couldn't stop reading until I'd raced to the finish line. I hungrily inhale everything she writes and devoured it in about two days." - Lorna Cook, bestselling author of The Hidden Letters and The Forgotten Village

"Rich in atmosphere and brimming with intrigue, The Housekeeper's Secret is not to be missed! Ms. Grey's unforgettable cast characters and vivid historical details coalesce to create a beautiful tapestry of a story that transports the reader back in time. It's a story of love, redemption, and finding one's place in the world. A story that's at once both timely and timeless." - Amanda Skenandore, award-winning author of The Nurse's Secret

"Iona Grey's The Housekeeper's Secret is a luscious novel, with a spellbinding plot told in gorgeous writing. Cancel your plans. You won't want to put this one down." - Nancy Thayer, New York Times bestselling author of All the Days of Summer

"This beautifully-written historical is a sumptuous, page-turning delight filled with an enticing mix of forbidden romance and buried secrets. A must read for fans of Downton Abby." - Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

About the Author

IONA GREY has a degree in English Language and Literature from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She has three grown up daughters, and lives in Cheshire with the husband she met on the last night of university, over thirty years ago. She is a firm believer in love at first sight and happy ever after.