Kris Waldherr weaves a mesmerizing and haunting gothic tale that captivates from beginning to end. This intricately crafted novel takes readers on a journey through dark secrets, unrequited love, and the blurred lines between reality and the supernatural.

The reader is drawn deeper into a world where love and loss are inextricably intertwined. The author's prose is lush and evocative, painting vivid imagery that brings the Gothic setting to life.

What sets this novel apart is its exploration of the supernatural and the liminal spaces between life and death. The author skillfully incorporates elements of the supernatural without compromising the realism of the narrative. The line between the physical and the spiritual becomes blurred, leaving the reader questioning the boundaries of existence.

Atmospheric and chilling-ghostly imagery made the read incredibly gothic in theme and in tone. Cant wait to see what else Waldherr puts out.
I have since bought a copy of this novel for my library at home.

I want to thank Netgalley, Atria Books, and Kris Waldherr for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Robert Highstead is a post-mortem photographer that discovered his calling after the untimely death of his wife Cressida. Three years after her death, he is still haunted by her and often feels and sees her close to him. After the death of a long-lost family member, he is called in to help satisfy the will by taking a post-mortem picture with the corpse in a glass memorial next to where the man's spouse is buried. The experience hits very close to home to his experience losing his wife. This book is very gothic and is based on a fairy tale and history that is often grimm and just incredibly breathtaking. all at the same time. I loved how atmospheric this book and how well written. it was. The blend of genres was well done and I would love to read more from this author. I will definitely be recommending this book to others and will remember this book for a long time. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

I adored this exquisite gothic thriller. In the vein of Victoria Holt and the Thirteenth Tale, this novel about love, loss, and the power of dreams kept me glued to my seat. I highly recommend this one!

The beginning of this book was too slow for me. I couldn't get into it. Though the writing was good, I had to try a couple of times to get into this one.

This is not my typical read in that I don't love ghost stories, but I was intrigued by this one! It's partially ghost story, part mystery, and part historical fiction, and I really enjoyed it!

An exquisitely rendered Gothic romance explores the limits of love and death. When famous poet Hugh de Bonne dies, Robert Highstead, his cousin, is asked to perform a seemingly simple task - to deliver Hugh's body for burial in the chapel in Shropshire built by Hugh sixteen years before as a tribute to his dearly departed wife Ada, his muse and soulmate. The chapel, a stained glass marvel known as Ada's Folly, is locked and the center of a literary pilgrimage by devotees of Hugh's most famous book of poetry, The Lost History of Dreams.

Poor Robert, a historian turned to that most Victorian of professions, a post mortem photographer, by emotional trauma, finds his task complicated by Ada's grieving niece Isabelle who refuses to open the chapel unless Robert promises to chronicle the story of the fateful marriage of Ada and Hugh, told by Isabelle over five nights. As Robert hears and records the tragic tale, he uncovers long buried family secrets that lead to revelations about his own marriage to Sida, a marriage irrevocably changed by an accident three years ago.

Waldherr's theme is perfectly expressed when Isabelle tells Robert the first night of Ada and Hugh's tale, "Love stories are ghost stories in disguise." Her characters are haunted by love and grief, and nothing is as it first seems as in all good ghost stories. The setting and language, the impossibly romantic and tragic love stories, the requisite creepiness are all true to the Victorian Gothic genre. Waldherr has crafted the perfect novel for fans of Gothics, especially for those who love The Thirteenth Tale.
#TheLostHistoryofDreams #NetGalley

Perfect example of a Victorian gothic novel. It had a slow start, but it began to unfold beautifully and grew into a dark, mysterious tale that will keep lovers of this genre engrossed.

I really enjoyed this story – there was plenty going on and I loved the mix of genres where it crossed from historical fiction and in to the slightly paranormal – it is the perfect Gothic story and has quite a few unexpected twists to keep you hooked!

I really liked the characterisation in the book and the different characters I thought worked really well and their interaction made the book for me.

I thought that the story was well written and I loved the setting, this is definitely a book to read for me at this time of year, or even in to the autumn and winter where the nights are shorter and you can read it wrapped up warm in a blanket to relax!

It is 4.5 stars from me for this one, rounded up to 5 stars for Goodreads and Amazon - I really enjoyed it – highly recommended!!

Famed poet Hugh de Bonne is dead following his wife, Ada sixteen years earlier. From this, Hugh was thrown into a melancholy that produced some of his most famed works published in The Lost History of Dreams as well as a stained glass chapel where he buried his wife.  With Hugh's death,  distant cousin Robert Hightstead is charged with carrying out Hugh's last wishes- to be buried next to his wife and have a daguerreotype taken with his corpse in the chapel next to Ada's niece, Isabelle Lowell.  Robert is the perfect person for the job since he is currently a post-mortem photographer.  However, Robert is dealing with a ghost of his own and doesn't want to leave London for long.  Upon arriving to Hugh's home in Shropshire, Robert finds that his task is made much harder by Isabelle who will not let anyone open the glass chapel.  Robert and Isabelle finally make a deal where Isabelle will open the glass chapel if Robert will record Ada's story over the course of five nights.  

The Lost History of Dreams creates a haunting by hopeful story and a mystery that patiently waits to be unfolded and solved.  Every character, object and place has been created with a story and a secret that made we want to keep digging in deeper and deeper.  From meeting Robert at the beginning of the story I was very curious about and his past and how that led him to be a post-mortem photographer. As the setting moves to Shropshire in Victorian England, a weight settles upon everything that gives the book a distinctive Gothic, atmospheric feeling.  The ghosts in the story are created as characters just as much as Isabelle and Robert.  I loved the device of a story within a story as Isabelle tells Robert of Ada and Hugh; through the story some mysteries are solved and others arise.  The romance entangles not just the dead, but the living as well as two lost souls untangle death to learn how to live.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

I found this book darkly magical. If you like literary writing, eerie atmosphere, complex characters, and Victorian-era sensuality, you will adore this book.

Based on the blurb I thought that this book would be something I would enjoy reading. However, to be honest, this book simply was not for me. I even tried listening to it on audio hoping that the narrator could bring life to the story but I was not moved. I don't quite know what was going on and was really not interested to know what happened to the characters. I will not be posting a review to any of the social media sites I usually post on since I don't feel comfortable leaving a review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a digital copy in return for an honest, unbiased review.

"All love stories are ghost stories in disguise."

-Traditional Gothic tale, story was completely mesmerizing! If you like Penny Dreadful than you will love this book! Story gives a paranormal, eerie theme that you will absolutely love! Once you start this book you will not be able to put it down, and you will end up wanting more! Great story!

Are you a fan of Wuthering Heights? If so, please give The Lost History of Dreams a try.

SPOILERS
I think the atmosphere of Victorian England was perfectly developed. I felt the cold of rain and heard the squick of the horse wagon. The house description was impeccable. I truly saw how old and decayed the house was after so many years of neglect.

What I struggled with, was the love and ghost stories. I felt it was too complicated and I could not see what was important. Characters themselves were too flavourless. I couldn't even remember the name of the male protagonist - Richard, Robert? He was lost in women he encountered with. His ghost wife, I assume, was supposed to give him substance, but failed (in my books). His story with Isabelle (and the sexual act in Ada's Folly) wasn't convincing.

However, for the debut novel, The Lost History of Dreams is fine.

Thank you Negalley and Atria Books for e-ARC The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr in return of my honest review.

This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 3.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!

Really enjoyed reading this one. I was so excited to get an adavanced copy of this story. It was an easy story to get into!

This book gets an A+ for gothic atmosphere and beautiful writing. The OTT plot, the love stories, the settings, the poetry, the death portraiture -- everything was straight out of the 19th century, with a writing style updated for a modern audience, but only just.

So why did I like this book but not love it? In a nutshell, I really wish that certain tropes were undermined rather than used at traditional face value. Much of the plot was more messy than pleasingly twisty, for me, and it relied too heavily on the figure of the Beautiful Consumptive, the pale woman so lovely because she is dying (and also, in this case, rich). Plus, tormented men abandoning their kids after their wives die. These are tropes with which I have problems as a feminist, and I wish this book had done something new and unexpected with them. One of the tricks that the narrative here plays is to take back women's stories from famous but pretentious male writers, like this book's Hugh de Bonne. This is a great goal. Isabelle's own tale, for example, is the best part of the book only when she starts telling it! But in the end a dead beautiful pale woman is a dead beautiful pale woman. It's a hard pattern to break in Victorian Gothic melodrama, and this book doesn't really try.

In any case, I would recommend this book to lovers of Victorian Gothic for sure, and the author's attention to period detail is inspired.

Book Review The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr
Review by Dawn Thomas

320 Pages
Publisher: Atria Books / Simon and Schuster
Release Date: April 9, 2019

Historical Fiction

Robert Highstead is a post-mortem photographer. His brother contacts him when their cousin Hugh de Bonne, a famous poet dies. He must take the corpse to his home for burial in a stained-glass chapel next to his late wife Ada. Hugh, dealing with issues of his wife Sida, unwillingly takes on the task and travels to the estate with the corpse.

Upon arrival at the estate, he is met by Hugh’s niece Isabelle. She will not allow Hugh to be interred until Robert listens to Ada’s story. She tells him the it will take five nights to complete the story. Robert does not want to stay but agrees to the terms. As the story of Ada and Hugh’s relationship unfolds, Robert is drawn in and needs to know what happened between them. The mystery deepens and Robert unwittingly is drawn in. We find ourselves asking if we really know another person.

This story was full of intrigue and mystery. It kept me guessing and I had to finish it in one sitting to find out how it would end. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes historical fiction with a mysterious twist.

This book started out like gangbusters with its gloomy, gothic setting. The brooding narrator, Robert, photographing Victorian corpses for the grieving families of the dead, set the scene for a terrifically dark, macabre novel.
The opening chapters are moody and atmospheric and I was drawn into the story immediately, until suddenly I wasn't. The middle of the novel became tedious and I found myself losing interest and wondering what happened to all that promise I felt in the beginning for a really great piece of fiction.

That's not to say that there isn't great writing here, it's just that the narrative wasn't its equal and that was a bit of a letdown.

"Every love story is a ghost story"

Can we truly fathom someone else's suffering and inner pain when it comes to grief or when we read a famous poem or witness a monument of lost love, do we only project those ideals and expectations onto our own pain and relate without questioning? When do we let go? The Lost History of Dreams is one of those stories that hits hard and leaves you with many thoughts, long pauses of recollections on interests and can be called "soul-baring". Set in Victorian England we follow various characters who experience haunting loss and abandonment in different degrees and planes. If you love Wuthering Heights, works of Poe, Du Maurier, Ovid and Byron, this novel is for you as this is a grand sweeping and atmospheric gothic tale with mystery, rich depth, complex symbolism and some unexpected swoon-worthy moments that make us all hope to find our own "locus amoenus" someday.

With many thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley who sent me an advanced copy of The Lost History of Dreams