Book Review: The Distant Hours by Kate Morton – There’s a crazy man in the attic!

I’ve never been much one for Gothic fiction. I’ve tried, especially after reading Northanger Abbey, but Burney and Radcliffe didn’t hold my attention. Even the Bronte ourve, besides Jane Eyre, doesn’t keep me interested. I want to like it, I feel like I should like it, but I just can’t get past the overly dramatic heroines and murky metaphors.

Early on it became clear that The Distant Hours: A Novel was Kate Morton’s great Gothic experiment. There was a dilapidated castle, three old reclusive sisters, the history of a mentally ill father, a tragic fire, a lost love and enough metaphors to line the creaky stairs to the uppermost abandoned castle tower. I don’t think Morton forgot one of the classic Gothic tropes.

There was one difference, though. I love Morton.  She has written two of my favorite books, one of which, The House at Riverton, I have recommended repeatedly, to great acclaim. I believed that she would pull the Gothic mystery off without getting too bogged down in the atmosphere. So I kept reading and, of course, was richly rewarded.

In the end, The Distant Hours is about family – the familial ties that bind us to our destinies more than our choices or free will. At the center of the story is a modern-day (circa 1992) relationship between a mother and daughter and the secrets that bind three aging sisters to a crumbling castle and to each other. The book comes together at the end rather brilliantly, allowing me to forgive Morton’s penchant for jumping between perspectives and times (1992, 1939, 1941) too many times. The three sisters are the tragic characters of the piece – how can they not be? But, by the end, you might be surprised with which one is the most sympathetic of the three and why.

All of Morton’s books leave you with a sense of loss of missed opportunities and misunderstood intentions and an overwhelming desire to reread the book immediately to read passages that you completely misinterpreted the first time around. It’s a staggering achievement that Morton is able to subtly misdirect the reader without it ever feeling contrived and without the reader feeling like Morton cheated them in some way. She is, hands down, one of the best historical fiction writers out there. That is why Morton is the author whose work I look forward to with great anticipation.

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton ★★★★☆