PattyMacDotComma's Reviews > The Clockmaker's Daughter

4★
“Kitty wore her cynicism well, but Leonard had known her before the war and he could see all the stitches that were holding the costume together.”

Kitty and Leonard are just one of several generations of characters Morton introduces us to, all connected to Birchwood Manor at one time or other in their lives. Some characters were taken there as children, some have met each other there, some have stumbled across it in their travels, and we know someone has died there.

In the opening pages, the narrator gives us this page-turner.

“A gunshot in the dark. The light went out and everything was black. . . He packed his things to leave and I could not make him stop.
The others followed, as they always did.
And I? I had no choice; I stayed behind.”

The narrator has separate chapters, headed with Roman numerals. Interspersed are the several stories, not in chronological order, of the other groups. Each group has a reasonably extensive back story so that we become invested in the characters, and I enjoyed them all. At some point or other, they may have crossed paths, perhaps unwittingly, but we can figure it out easily enough.

Morton writes doorstop novels, so I knew what I was in for, and it IS another long book with which I admit I became a wee bit impatient. But I also have to say I appreciated how well I got to know all her people. I think the only way to have abbreviated the story would have been to omit a generation or two.

Leonard, from the first quote, was a war veteran (WWI) whose story serves as a kind of midpoint between 1862 and 2017, the earliest period and today, when Elodie, the first “main” character finds a satchel and photograph that intrigue her and set her off to investigate its origins.

Her story is 2017; her great-uncle Tip’s story is from 1940 as a child during WWII, and there are sections for 1882, 1890, 1962, and 1992. I may have missed some, but no matter.

Morton is wonderfully descriptive, and while Birchwood Manor doesn’t have the kind of awe-inspiring or gothic appeal of some of the grand buildings of literature, it does have some genuinely creepy parts around which the plot hinges. She also doesn't dwell on the architecture and furniture (for which, thank you, Kate), rather she gives us the mood and atmosphere (along with a slight but important old ghost story).

The grounds themselves seem to have a magical, protective quality which affects several characters who find a brief respite there. The location on the banks of the upper Thames river is both attractive and dangerous. (Someone drowns - not a spoiler.)

A well-known painter, Edward Radcliffe, bought Birchwood Manor in 1861, and in the summer of 1862 takes his model, his friends, and his little sister to visit. What should have been a glorious holiday disintegrates rapidly with the opening scenario with the gunshot. And there's a famous family gem that disappears.

His model is Birdie/Lily, a street urchin (straight out of Dickens) who became a striking young woman. Her story is an interesting, major thread. Little sister Lucy is another who features in a small way at first, but who turns out to have been integral to a major plot point.

In later years, the Manor becomes a museum and a school for girls among other things. We meet the other “generations” of characters as they visit, stay, or just stumble across the place for a picnic.

Their story is told in the third person by the author, but the narrator’s view of the comings and goings is necessarily restricted in some ways but all-seeing in other ways. About one man, the narrator says:

“We are of one mind tonight, he and I. Each of us separated from the people we love; each of us waking through memories of the past, seeking resolution.

All human beings crave connection, even the introverts; it is too frightening for them to think themselves alone. the world, the universe – existence – is simply too big. Thank God, they cannot glimpse how much bigger it is than they think.”

The book itself is bigger than I thought, not just in size, but in the number of stories it encompasses. As I look back now, I realise how much I enjoyed the characters, and I’d have a hard time pointing the finger at anyone in particular and saying “CUT”. Some voices were distinctive, but some of the young women seemed similar, and some of the men were probably unnecessary.

But not Tip. He was necessary, both as a little fellow and as a curmudgeonly Great Uncle.

Many thanks to Allen & Unwin for the handsome review copy, which I have filled with stickers with dates and names. I could have used a good table of contents and an index, I think. : )

I think Morton fans will enjoy this one, index or not!