There is a castle and it has a king; self assured , almost content with his self-built empire, his queen and their children. But is he really think that they are content? His wife is happy being queen of the castle? Our protagonist and younger of these two kids is searching answers for these questions throughout the book.

I heard this story has been compared to being modern day fairy tale set in America. And this might be true in the premises of it’s plotting- there is a father with two lonely kids, enter the evil stepmother with her own kids and the ‘rightful’ heir being thrown out on the road literally.

The one thing I admired more about this novel is the bonding between Conroy kids – Danny and Maeve; their almost generational gap, Maeve’s attempts to protect the rights of her brother, her shouldering of responsibility, her looking after over Danny well beyond childhood, Danny’s strong belief in his sister, his sense of protection towards her and her well-being. These keep the story moving forward with their occasional looking back at the past through the prism of their childhood home.

And the thing which baffled me about this novel is their mother – her sudden departure and then return; while leaving taking away the crucial part of her children’s life, only to return with the premonition of death. It took certain time for this character to grow on me, to understand it completely and more from Mauve’s than Danny’s perspective.

The end is kind of classic with evil being punished for all the sins. Still, what you feel is pity towards Andrea rather than contempt of meeting her fate. That is the success of the story teller and how she has weaved the narrative encompassing over five decades.

Highly recommended and definitely, a well worth the read.