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Book Summary and Reviews of The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons

The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons

The House at Tyneford

A Novel

by Natasha Solomons

  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • Published:
  • Dec 2011, 368 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

It's the spring of 1938 and no longer safe to be a Jew in Vienna. Nineteen-year-old Elise Landau is forced to leave her glittering life of parties and champagne to become a parlor maid in England. She arrives at Tyneford, the great house on the bay, where servants polish silver and serve drinks on the lawn. But war is coming, and the world is changing. When the master of Tyneford's young son, Kit, returns home, he and Elise strike up an unlikely friendship that will transform Tyneford - and Elise - forever.

First published in the UK as The Novel in the Viola.

Paperback original

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Both a love story set during the Second World War and an elegy to the English country house... the greatest pleasure of the novel is its stirring narrative and the constant sense of discovery." - Times Literary Supplement (UK)

"A vivid and poignant story about hope, loss, and reinvention." - Psychologies Magazine (UK)

"The House at Tyneford is a wonderful, old-fashioned novel that takes you back in time to the manor homes, aristocracy and domestic servants of England. In this setting, Natasha Solomons gives us a courageous heroine whose incredible love story will keep you in suspense until the final page." - Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House

This information about The House at Tyneford was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Cathryn Conroy

Excellent Book That Grabbed My Heart—And Wouldn't Let Go
This book grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go! By turns quite humorous and bring-out-a-tissue heartrending, this book by Natasha Solomons is the story of Elise Landau, a 19-year-old in Vienna, Austria in 1938. She has lived a life of luxury in an upper-class world. But her family is Jewish, so for her safety her parents send her to England to work in service at a manor house called Tyneford. It is a wrenching separation, and now Elise, who has lived with the services of a maid all her life, becomes a maid herself. And then she falls in love with Kit, the young, handsome heir. But war comes and everything changes.

The plot is solid, but the real the strength of the book is in the characters, who are all so real—from the crusty butler to the confused Elise—that they just pop off the page. Excellent!

Jeanette S.

A New Perspective on WWII
Fans of historical fiction have likely read numerous accounts of World War II. This one is worth reading as it gives a new perspective and is really more of a love story than a story of the war itself. An ending worthy of the plot line readers will appreciate.

Dorothy T.

Great read
I couldn't give this novel five stars because of the unnecessary use of rough language (I thought that since this was set during World War II that I would avoid the f-word, but not so).

The blurb on the book compares this with "Downton Abbey" and Kate Morton's "The Forgotten Garden"; the first is obvious, but I failed to see any similarity with the second. That being said, this is a terrific read: well-developed characters, appealing settings of time and place, and an engaging storyline. Make the time for this one!

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Author Information

Natasha Solomons Author Biography

Natasha Solomons is the author of five internationally bestselling novels, including Mr Rosenblum's List, The Novel in the Viola, which was chosen for the Richard & Judy Book Club, and The Gallery of Vanished Husbands. Natasha lives in Dorset with her son, daughter and her husband, the children's author, David Solomons with whom she also writes screenplays. Her novels have been translated into 17 languages. When not writing in the studio, Natasha can usually be found in her garden.

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