This review contains affiliate links, which earn me a small commission when you click and purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business and allowing me to continue providing you a reliable resource for clean book ratings.
It’s August 1971, and Rita has been nanny to the Harringtons, a well-to-do family in London, for over a year. The mother hasn’t been mentally well during that time, grieving the loss of a baby, and the family’s city house has just burned down. Rita drives Jeannie and her two children, a tween girl named Hera and a boy named Teddy, out to the family’s country home while the father stays in the city to take care of business. She is dismayed to find Foxcote Manor not just out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest, but sorely in need of repairs.
In the present day, Sylvie is forty-something and newly separated from her husband. She moves out of their family home into an apartment, and her 18-year-old daughter isn’t taking it well. So Annie chooses to spend the summer with Sylvie’s mother in her cottage near the coast.
Rita does the best she can to take care of Jeannie and the two children, but their stay is disrupted by a visitor who will only cause problems. And when they find an abandoned baby in the forest just near the house, Jeannie insists on keeping the baby there with them for as long as possible, not alerting the police. Rita falls in love with the beautiful baby, too, but knows keeping her there can only lead to heartache.
The trouble brewing at Foxcote Manor finally comes to a head, and a body is found dead on the grounds. The consequences of choices made during those weeks will reverberate for years and affect several families. Eventually, the truth will come out.
The story goes back and forth between the time Rita spends with the Harringtons that fateful summer and the current day. The connection between Rita and Sylvie becomes clear soon enough, but the full story of what happened and why slowly plays out until the truth is fully revealed. It’s a bittersweet tale of love and loss and family. These types of books, where old secrets are unearthed, always catch my attention, and I’m pleased when they’re done well. The Daughters of Foxcote Manor is an example of the genre that does it right. (Check out Chase’s gothic suspense book The Birdcage, too.)
Rated: Moderate. Profanity includes one use of strong language, about 5 instances of moderate profanity, around 20 uses of mild language, and about 30 instances of the name of Deity in vain. There are also about 15 uses of British profanity (bl-). Sexual content includes a fair number of references to people having sex, but without many details. Most of that is infidelity. There are a few scenes with nudity or partial nudity. There is some violence, including a man being shot and killed, and some animals being hunted. There are descriptions of the blood and mess left in a woman’s bedroom after she gave birth at home.
Click here to purchase your copy of The Daughters of Foxcote Manor on Amazon.
