This follows the stories of 3 women and their struggles with men in their life.
Lisa and her son JOe are hiding from her abusive husband at her friend's house on a remote lake.
Another thread of the story follows a young girl who is being kept away from school and the rest of the world by her father, an ex soldier who suffers from PTSD.
The third story follows Isobel, daughter of the local minister who meets both of the other women at significant times in their lives.
Their stories intersect towards the climax of the book with some twists at the end.
I found the story confusing at times and unbelievable . I really struggled to finish it.
In saying that it was well written but definitely not my cup of tea.

Rowan Isle House is in the wilds of Yorkshire- dark, creepy and dilapidated, but Lisa needs to hide there with her son Joe. Her friend told
her about the place but can she escape her past? A seemingly lovely neighbour befriends Lisa but is she all she appears to be? What is her connection to the house or the father and daughter who lived there before? The story is told by 2 people - Lisa and the girl who lived there before, with her father. Virtual recluses, the young girl is not allowed to go to school or mix with people from the village. You must read this book to find out how all the characters are connected, and to know if Lisa and Joe are safe.

The House on the Lake is a brilliant creepy gripping book .Fast paced and told across two timelines the story is about Lisa who has fled from London with her son Joe to escape her controlling husband Mark ,she is given the address of a safe house in Yorkshire called Rowan House .Back in 2002 Grace is a child and lives with her ex SAS soldier Dad who she calls Sarge in this house off the grid ,he is suffering from PTS and trains her to be a soldier.Both Grace and Lisa are terrified of the men in their lives .The story twists and turns at a fast pace .I really enjoyed this book I have been lucky enough to read Nuala Ellwood 's last two books and this one is just as brilliant .I can't wait to read her next book .Many thanks to the Publisher ,the Author and NetGalley for my preview copy in return for an honest review .

Not read any Nuala Ellwood novels before. I shall be now seeking out the others as I really enjoyed this dark psychological thriller. It is perfectly paced, with not too many twists and turns to veer off in bizarre directions. Written from the perspective of the two main characters, Nuala takes down a mysterious and gripping path of intrigue and mystery to present a lightly written but intense story of secrets and abuse and death, Nuala builds the characters with such beautiful depth, and it really is a most eloquent novel.

Having read "The Day of the Accident" by this author, I was expecting another book with a plot full of mystery that unraveled slowly, unpredictably but logically, and I wasn't disappointed. Nuala Ellwood has shown that she can take characters who are dealing with some real issues and make the situation they are in seem fantastical and far fetched, but by the end of the book their actions make perfect sense as they are all shaped by their experiences which are very real and very believable.

In this book, we have a woman arriving at an abandoned house with her small son, escaping from an abusive husband. At the same time we have another story of an occupant of the same house living in what seem extraordinary circumstances some years before the main narrative. You then sprinkle in some characters who span the two stories with secrets and issues of their own, and you have an intriguing plot that makes you want to read on, along with an ending and revelations that are not always happy ones. A great read.

An excellent novel, although, in places not an easy read. Well drawn characters and plot. Engrossing and absorbing. Couldn’t put the book down,

This book wasn't what I expected. Two stories weaved into one, it is brilliant and engaging, hooking the reader from the first page.

I was invited to read this book by the publisher following my review of the Day of the Accident and I thank NetGalley for this. This book was, in my opinion, better than the first one I read. Lisa, as a character was enthralling and I found myself captivated by the story from page one. A brilliantly written gripping thriller that I will definitely be recommending, absolutely superb!

This is the second book I have read by this author and this one is as good as the first. It is an intriguing storyline, initially split into two between Soldier who is a young girl being trained by her father just back from war and Lisa who is running away from her husband and an abusive relationship.

The House on the Lake, together with its history, is the common denominator. As the story progresses the reader is introduced to Isobel, the daughter of the local vicar where there appears to be a sinister undertone.

The characters and the plotting are excellent and the author has taken great care to ensure the reader is taken on the journey with all the shock and fear along the way. All in all, it is a depressing read on many levels but seems to capture the situations of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, abuse in a relationship and how to survive with clarity.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Books (UK) and Nuala Ellwood for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Great read, highly recommended.

I found this an interesting book, albeit rather bleak. The story is well-written, although the friendship between Grace and Isobel never seems quite credible, and neither does that between Isobel and Lisa. It was certainly a very different kind of story, and dealt with some important issues in a sensitive way.

This is a strange book, rather depressing to be honest. Two lives lived differently that come together in a lonely Yorkshire village. How their two lives come to be entwined makes a rather convoluted story that did anything but make my heart sing. I really found the story to be unrealistic - no one would take small boy to live in ahovel with no water, so that the ater they drank was from a lake - surely not.
The house had no facilities at all and sounded horrible, dirty and forlorn. I did not enjoy it. Sorry.
It was possibly well written, but the depressing story outweighed tht I am afraid.

I found this book hard to get into initially but in time my interest was piqued by this dual narration that works very well and is not at all disjointed.

This is a very black, sordid and heavy story with little or no respite even at it's conclusion.

There are very many twists and turns that keep the reader guessing and at times, gasping!

Although a very good storyline at the end all I felt was sadness.

My thanks to Netgalley for my copy of The House on the Lake.

An interesting storyline involving Lisa, fleeing from a bad marriage with her son and Grace a young girl being brought up by her father who has been traumatised by his army past. Both live in the house nearly 20 years apart and their stories gradually intertwine for a surprise ending. An enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy of the ebook, in exchange for my honest review.

No matter how far you run …. He’s never far behind.

Lisa needs to disappear. And her friends rambling old home in the wilds of Yorkshire seems the perfect place. It’s miles away from the closest town and no one there knows her or her little boy Joe.

But when a woman from the local village comes to visit them, Lisa realises that she and Joe aren’t as safe as she thought.

Why secret has Rowan Isles House – and her friend – kept hidden all these years.

And what will Lisa have to do to survive, when her past finally catches up with her.


The story follows to two girls at two different times in their lives and each part of the story is as gripping as the next..

Lisa is a young mum who has escaped her husband and flee’d to another part of the country with her son to keep away from him ….. or so we are made to believe!

Lisa was a likeable character from the offset. I really felt for her, she had upped and moved her life with her son and one bag to get away from what seemed like an emotionally abusive relationship, from the beginning you could see her son Joe didn’t want to be there with her, he was constantly asking after his dad and for such a young boy was a bit violent with her. This made me feel even more for her, like she wasn’t going through enough.

It wasn’t too long until Lisa found herself a friend in the village, Isobel. They soon became good friends and Joe loved her, more than his mummy… The more stuff they did, the more something seemed a little off with Isobel but I could never quite put my finger on it.

This part of the story became faced paced really quickly when THE BIG TWIST hits, and I was shell shocked, I actually had to take a minute to let that marinate for a second before I could continue reading.

The other part of the story is from years back, and told by the soldier also known as Grace. I felt instantly sorry for her, having no childhood and treated like she is in the army by her dad who she calls Sarge… but this is how it had always been and what she was used to. Until she met Isobel, a girl who wanted to be her friend and she got her into trouble and the punishment the solider received was dire, she was locked in a room for days, tied up.. and she cracked and wanted to be a normal girl and do normal things.

This is where the stories merge together, and ultimately where your mind is kind of blown…. this was an incredibly written novel. I loved how each main character in the story was extremely likeable yet they each had a horrifying secret which in turn kind of made you hate them.


This novel was my second by Nuala Ellwood and was just as incredible as the first. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves a good fast paced mystery with excellent twists thrown in.

I'll be honest up front, I think this is probably a really well written book. However, it wasn't for me. Something wasn't right about it and I couldn't get engaged with the characters or the story. I read it to the end out of a feeling of duty to the author and publisher for allowing me to read it before it was published.

Soldier 1 is a young girl being brought up by her father in a remote house in the wilder area of the Yorkshire Dales. It is a harsh life that she leads and we learn about her life through the journal that 'Sarge' had her keep.

Lisa is escaping her husband, with her young son, Joe. We hear about Lisa's life from her dialogue of what is happening. She has been made to feel inadequate by Mark, her husband; and seems incapable of dealing with anything out of the ordinary.

Rowan Isle House is the setting for the story. It has no facilities to speak of and has been abandoned for a good few years before Lisa takes refuge there. Help comes through an unexpected meeting, once Lisa calms down! But, and there's always a but, not everyone or everything is as it seems.

great book, just like Nuala other books it was hard to put down. You cant help but feel for Lisa as she turns up at the house on the lake with her son and it's very basic no electric, no running water. Lisa is all ways keeping an eye out for her husband in case he should turn up and find them both. Will recommend this book.

Lisa needs to disappear. And her friend's rambling old home in the wilds of Yorkshire seems like the perfect place. It's miles away from the closest town, and no one there knows her or her little boy, Joe...The suspense starts to build as Lisa and her friends history’s start to be revealed.

What a great book! It’s got everything a good thriller needs, a creepy old house, a remote location, some great complex characters and lots of perfectly timed twists and turns.

I was unsure at first as it seemed rather dis jointed but I persevered and was glad I had. It was set in the same house in two different times. There was a young girl being brought up by her father an ex-soldier and then at a later time a woman fleeing with her child from a controlling husband. It all came together in the end.

One of the weirdest and strangest storyline that I have read in a long time. Sorely tempted to give up several times but preserved to the end. Did it get any better? I don’t know, did I I enjoy it? I don’t know. Read it for yourself and decide.

Rating: 3.5 stars

This book definitely kept me on my toes. Its one of those books that really transforms to another world, in this case a world of a girl growing up isolated from the rest of the village. The other side of the story took you through a mothers struggle of trying to survive in this creepy house on the lake with her child all the while looking over her shoulder; scared that her husband was going to come and rip her world away from her.

I did like the story, and the writing. I liked how unique Grace's story was, and the childlike narrative really added to the story. I did like Lisa's story though it was a bit more frustrating to read.

I think this book worked well, not necessarily as a thriller though. Although the ending was unpredictable for me, it didn't make me gasp or feel too surprised.