The Secret Thread - by Eve Chase (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

At a lavish summer party on an English country estate, tensions between social classes lead to deadly consequences that won't stay buried in this twisty, engrossing suspense novel by the author of The Midnight Hour.

Even the darkest secrets unravel in time. . . .

2024 Jo O'Mara, a young writer, lands a job working for Mimi Mott, a wealthy style icon and legendary founder of a decorating empire. Newly widowed and in her seventies, Mimi is preparing to auction off her possessions, through them finally telling the story of her early life. Famously private, Mimi has kept her past shrouded in mystery. Jo doesn't dare reveal how closely it touches her own.

Tasked with collecting the untold tales behind each auction lot, Jo peels back the layers of Mimi's origin story and discovers it's far darker than anyone ever suspected.

1969: Mimi and her sister, Pamela, live in a cramped, musty staff cottage on the grounds of Rushwood, an idyllic English country estate owned by the Caswell family, their demanding new employer. Working alongside their gardener parents, the girls have been raised with their hands in the soil and know only a traditional, simple life--but spirited Mimi hungers for more.

When the Caswells' adult children, Nancy and Lawrence, arrive at Rushwood for the summer, the sisters are drawn into a privileged, intoxicating world, unsettling their own, and passions spark under the blazing sun--until a shattering death at Rushwood's high-society party tears Mimi and Pamela apart.

Now time is running out. Jo discovers both a missing auction piece and a missing sister and vows to find them no matter how dark the secret they expose--or the cost to herself.

Review Quotes

"I was completely swept up in this intoxicating tale of two sisters divided by tragedy. The Secret Thread is a riveting, beautifully told mystery that absorbs from the very first page. I loved it."--Clare Leslie Hall, author of Broken Country

"Family secrets unravel in this clever page-turner of a book, portraying a constellation of glittering characters. A sharply observed and sumptuous read."--Fiona Valpy, author of The Dark of the Moon

"The Secret Thread is sensational. Gripping, immersive and hair-raisingly beautiful. I adored every word, every page."--Rosie Walsh, author of The One Day You Were My Husband

"Exquisite!"--Evie Woods, author of The Violin Maker's Secret

"An intriguing mystery wrapped in the sumptuously glamorous life of a famous designer, The Secret Thread is a story beautifully and compassionately told."--Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things

"Like a literary geologist Eve Chase identifies the fault lines that fracture families starting with seemingly trivial incidents and growing into major rifts that endure for decades."--Gill Paul, author of Scandalous Women

"The Secret Thread is an engrossing, layered read. This saga of two sisters lost to each other due to the textured, tricky nature of memory and how they find each other again is as seductive as the bewitching setting of country houses, Manhattan apartments and Swinging London in the 1960s."--Melanie Benjamin, author of The Windsor Affair

"It glitters and winks and shines, never letting up for a moment. Absolutely gorgeous."--Veronica Henry, author of Thirty Days in Paris

"I loved everything about The Secret Thread. Spellbinding, evocative and beautifully written, with stunning locations and unforgettable characters that I truly cared about. A moving and compelling story of sisters, hidden secrets, tragedy and first love. Eve Chase's best book yet!"--Claire Douglas, author The Couple at Number 9

"The Secret Thread is a tantalizing, evocative mystery. Eve Chase's trademark gorgeous prose conjures up vivid, splendid settings, where upstairs, downstairs and family dramas play out to a tragic end."--Gilly Macmillan, author of The Burning Library

"An absorbing and exquisitely written tale of possessions, obsession, and sisterhood. A book to fall in love with."--Anna Mazzola, author of The Book of Secrets

"The Secret Thread is a stunning, evocative novel that pulls you into a hot summer on a grand country estate, in which the lives of two families become fatally entwined."--Araminta Hall, author Imperfect Women

"A stunning achievement. I loved it."--Amanda Geard, author of The Midnight House

"Chase's impeccable writing evokes the past with such specificity, the sounds, the smells, the feelings, and above all, the difference in atmosphere to the present, weaving effortlessly the now and then of her intergenerational story."--Elizabeth Fremantle, author of Firebrand

About the Author

Eve Chase is a million-copy, internationally bestselling British novelist who writes rich, layered, and suspenseful novels, steeped with secrets, unforgettable characters, and settings. Her previous novels include The Midnight Hour, a Richard and Judy Book Club pick in the UK; The Birdcage; The Daughters of Foxcote Manor, which was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and Richard and Judy Book Club pick in the UK; The Wildling Sisters, longlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award; Black Rabbit Hall, winner of Paris's Saint-Maur en Poche prize for Best Foreign Fiction.