BOOK REVIEW: THE ASHFORD AFFAIR by Lauren Willig

The Ashford Affair

Lauren Willig

St. Martin's Press

Pub Date:   Apr 9 2013

• ISBN9781250014498

 

About the book . . . 

From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig comes The Ashford Affair, a page-turning novel about two women in different eras, and on different continents, who are connected by one deeply buried secret.
As a lawyer in a large Manhattan firm, just shy of making partner, Clementine Evans has finally achieved almost everything she’s been working towards—but now she’s not sure it’s enough. Her long hours have led to a broken engagement and, suddenly single at thirty-four, she feels her messy life crumbling around her. But when the family gathers for her grandmother Addie’s ninety-ninth birthday, a relative lets slip hints about a long-buried family secret, leading Clemmie on a journey into the past that could change everything. . . .

Growing up at Ashford Park in the early twentieth century, Addie has never quite belonged. When her parents passed away, she was taken into the grand English house by her aristocratic aunt and uncle, and raised side-by-side with her beautiful and outgoing cousin, Bea. Though they are as different as night and day, Addie and Bea are closer than sisters, through relationships and challenges, and a war that changes the face of Europe irrevocably. But what happens when something finally comes along that can’t be shared? When the love of sisterhood is tested by a bond that’s even stronger?

From the inner circles of British society to the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the red-dirt hills of Kenya, the never-told secrets of a woman and a family unfurl.  

 About the author . . .

LAUREN WILLIG is also the author of the New York Times bestselling Pink Carnation series and a RITA Award-winner for Best Regency Historical for The Mischief of Mistletoe. She graduated from Yale University, and has a graduate degree in English history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City, where she now writes full time.  

Author's Website 

 

Reader Review . . . 

Even the best of families harbor secrets.  When Clementine attends her grandmother Addie's ninety-ninth birthday, she gets a hint of a long-buried family secret, and she won't rest until she unravels the mystery.  

Addie's story begins when, at a young age, she is taken to Ashford Park to be raised by her uncle and his wife.  She never feels as though she completely belongs, but her close relationship with her cousin Bea sustains her.  As an adult, Bea commits an act that will test their relationship and change their lives forever.  

Set in England, Kenya, and Manhattan, this novel combines historical and modern fiction through the use of flashbacks.  The characters of Addie and Bea are especially interesting.  The choices made by the characters in the early storyline affect their descendants in the modern storyline.  The only disappointment in this book is that the mystery is not completely solved at the end.  The reader is left with unanswered questions.

5 stars

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the NetGalley book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”