Heartbreaking, unforgettable and relatable, even as we live in the 21st century. 1965 and 2010. We have two stories, that of Ellie Hockley and Kayla Carter. The past and the present collide when Kayla and her husband build a house in Round Hill, North Carolina. Sadly, Kayla's husband was killed in an accident even before they could move in. However, Kayla and their young daughter Rainey were all set to start their new lives in the lovely home, but not without problems. Someone does not want them there and somehow the past slowly begins to be unraveled for Kayla.

Back in 1965, Ellie joined a group of young people at the start of one summer they were involved in the early Civil Rights Movement and the SCOPE (The Summer Community Organization and Political Education) Project. They were determined to bring the right to vote to the blacks at that time, more commonly known then as 'coloreds'. Ellie was one who did not see color lines, and if she did, it was only towards bringing the races together, even if it could cost her everything.

Any book that is based on historical events begs researching and that is exactly what I did while reading this book. I was born in 1960 and the first notice I had of Civil Rights was when Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. I remember that day clearly even if it took years for me to fully understand the impact he had on history. Learning now about the SCOPE Project raises my respect exponentially when considering how hard the fight was for so many, including countless lives lost while striving for equality. The KKK was large and in charge during many of the events that Ellie experienced, even discovering those she loved and trusted having involvement.

How do Ellie and Kayla connect in 2010 and how does the house Kayla built with her husband play into those traumatic events of Ellie's past? In this dramatic story, laden with heartbreaking experiences, Ellie's story is told, inluding how she met one very special person she had the privilege of working with during her time with SCOPE. Those memories impacted Ellie's life in inescapable ways, even decades later.

This impactful read was written in a fabulous manner, causing tears and sadness more than once. Having it as an audiobook and listening to the narrator, Susan Bennett, as she gave voice to both Ellie and Kayla only made this excellent book even that much better. Race issues are still prevalant in this modern world that we live in. This is a book that should be read by many.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and to Macmillan Audio and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

The Last House on the Street
by Diane Chamberlain
Pub Date: January 11, 2022
St. Martin's Press

* Historical Fiction * Mystery *Thriller
This story will stick with me for a long time. This book is a historical fiction novel. It's about the Scope Project which I never heard of before, and I learned a lot from it. There are dual timelines. The timelines are 2010 and then goes back to 1965.
As always, Chamberlain writes with sensitivity but doesn’t shy away from tough topics. She brilliantly ties the past to present and gives care to every character and thread. This is not an easy read, but it is important and still relevant today.
Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC. This is an extremely well-written novel. I will recommend it.
5 stars

Set in 1965, Ellie faces backlash after she spends her summer encouraging black people to register to vote and does the unthinkable, dates a black man, Winston. How does widow and single mom, Kayla's, life in 2010 connect to the past?

Told in alternating timelines, The Last House on the Street explores racial issues and prejudice with a bit of a mystery sprinkled in which adds to the tension. Who is harassing Kayla and why? This story was heartbreaking yet hopeful (one of my favorite mixes), and I was surprised by a couple twists throughout, especially the ones at the end.

Location: Round Hill, North Carolina

I received an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

WOW!

This is an incredibly written historical fiction book, moving between 1965 and 2010.

Author Diane Chamberlain has incredible magic flowing through her! This isn't my typical genre of reading (and my first book by this author), but I am glad I stumbled upon it. The characters, the flow of the story, the whole storylines involved just sucked me in and I was lost in a time warp until I finished the book!

This is a story of forbidden romance, historical prejudice, and families. I would absolutely recommend this read!

Powerful and wonderfully written. At times it's difficult to read. The characters are complex. The plot interesting and surprising. I quickly was drawn in.

"The Last House on the Street", by Diane Chamberlain, is centered around two female protagonists. Ellie Hockley grew up in the civil rights era, and is active in the efforts to get African Americans to vote. However, her well-to-do parents are completely opposed and appalled by their daughter's efforts. And when she even falls in love with a black man, nothing can stop her parents from keeping them apart. Kayla Carter is a modern woman who is struggling to keep her life together after the sudden loss of her architect husband. When she moves herself and her daughter into the new house her husband designed, strange things begin to happen. Ellie and Kayla's paths continue to cross and they realize that they have a lot more in common than they realized at the beginning.

I enjoyed how easily Chamberlain switched back and forth between Ellis and Kayla, and between modern day and the civil rights era. This was an easy book to read, and I enjoyed it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Diane Chamberlain's last book Big Lies In A Small Town. Her latest just didn't grab a hold of my attention the whole way through.

The 2010 timeline following Kayla after her husband's death she relocates her and her daughter into a new house in North Carolina. Her story is more of a mystery genre which crosses over to the historical fiction genre with the 1960's storyline of Ellie who spent her summer as a volunteer for SCOPE a project the helps to register black families to vote in North Carolina. 1960s in NC is filled with hatred and extreme racism topics like this are so heart wrenching and sad since there are too many of the same parallels that are still around in society today.

If you enjoy your historical fiction to be slow building and moving I think you'll enjoy this book. I'm sure I'm in the minority with my rating but as always my reviews are my honest and spoiler free opinion. Historical fiction is not my favorite genre so I prefer this genre to grab a hold of my attention the whole way through unfortunately this one really took it's time on hooking me in.

Thank you to the author & publisher for gifting me a physical ARC & ebook (thanks to NetGalley as well)
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Happy Pub Day to my first 5 star book of 2022! Guys, this book deserves all the hype it can get. Narrated in alternative timelines of 1965 and 2010,
this historical fiction highlights the blatant racism and bigotry of the sixties in the U.S and the extreme sacrifices that freedom fighters endured for social justice.

Both the timelines take place in the same town of North Carolina and the stories are interwoven. There is a little bit of mystery and a beautiful love story. This book will make you upset…angry even. You will also feel dejected and cry…cry for how terribly unjust history has been towards people of color. I seldom cry reading a book. I could literally count in one hand the books that made me cry in the past 2 years. But this book did it because of how realistic the injustices are, even though this book is fiction. Both timelines have plenty of characters but you will have no trouble keeping up because every character has their own personality. Diane Chamberlain’s writing is propulsive to say the least. She’s a brilliant, master storyteller to put it simply.

I kept my review as brief as possible because you’d want to go in as blind as possible to both enjoy the novel and feel shattered at the same time.

I can’t wait to discuss this book with my buddy read friends on Bookstagram!

As always, I love a Diane Chamberlain novel. This split-timeline story, a trope of hers which I love, touches upon racism, forbidden love, doing what's socially just even in the face of danger, and also grief in the modern storyline. I found myself racing through the chapters to see what was coming next. I couldn't wait to see how the storyline tied up from the historical perspective and each chapter had me shocked, horrified, and turning the pages. This was another great read from Diane.

Haunting and heartbreaking I’m still thinking about this one.
Told in dual timelines focusing on Ellie in 1965 and the Civil Rights movement. She is a proper southern girl and shocks her parents when she wants to leave Round Hill and her banker boyfriend behind to spend the summer registering Black voters.
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Meanwhile, in 2010 Kayla, a young widow and her daughter move to the Round Hill house that her and her husband designed before his shocking death. A mysterious woman warns Kayla not to move into the house, rumors of the woods being haunted and threatening notes are being left around, all pointing to the dark history of the land.
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Ellie and Kayla’s uncertain roads lead to each other in this heartbreaking story. This is available now! Thank you @StMartinsPress for an advanced copy.

The Last House On The Street is set in dual timelines and is the story of Kayla and Ellie. But the novel is more than Ellie's and Kayla's story. This book will break your heart into million pieces. Ellie's story makes me cry but her character makes you feel that there are good people in the world. I was more invested in the story of Ellie than Kayla in all honesty. Underlying the fiction the author has highlighted the SCOPE project of 1965 that has given a glimpse of history which always interests me.
A story of love, prejudice, violence, fight against injustice, strength, courage and betrayals this book is a fascinating but very emotional read as well as an eye opener to the past. A must read.

The Last House on the Street caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting to connect with the story in quite the way I did. It was a completely timely look at racism and voting rights in a time in which both seem to be heading backwards.

The story is told in two timelines. One is Ellie in 1965. She is living in North Carolina and watching her southern town fighting against the invaders from the north trying to help register African Americans to vote. Ellie is honestly shocked by the words of people that she never realized were racists and volunteers to help with SCOPE. She is immediately distrusted by everyone on all sides, being a white southerner having to now live within the community that is both part of and apart from her hometown. I was immediately filled with a sense of dread for everyone involved. Ellie is walking away from the path that was before her up until that point and she has no map to use.

The other timeline is the same town in 2010. Kayla has just lost her husband and is about to move into her new home without him. She is being threatened by a strange woman and she knows something is wrong with the woods behind her home.

I found myself looking forward more to the times with Ellie than with the times with Kayla. It would be strange if in a small town like this these two lives didn’t meet at some point. When they do come together it is not an unexpected, but also not an unbelievable, result. My heart breaks that these people suffered and we haven’t learned those lessons.

This book will make it onto my recommendation list for sure.

I loved The Last House on the Street and have been telling lots of people about it! It's written from a dual point of view: Kayla in 2010 and Ellie in 1965. Both women are fascinating characters who deal with difficult issues and great loss. The two timelines seamlessly intersect in 2010. Of course, the writing is fabulous so you won't want to stop reading.

But what stood out to me the most happened during the time that Ellie spent volunteering. She and the others want to let the black community know that LBJ would be changing the voting registration laws, and the difficult literacy test would no longer be required.

Here is what hit me: The first family Ellie stayed with lived in dire poverty. They had no running water, an outhouse, no electricity. It was then that Ellie realized just how "rich" she was. The things she complained about were so trivial when compared with what these families faced. I wish people would wake up, look outside of their privileged circle, go to places in this country that are still riddled with poverty. If you've got a home, clothes, heat, A/C, a full frig, working plumbing.....you are SO blessed. We've gotten to the point where we've got to create things to complain about. That's not oppression. Read this book! I hope it opens your eyes and makes you think about just how much you've got. It was a really good reminder for me.

And that "lesson" I gleaned from this novel doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of how gripping this novel is. You'll be angered by injustice, yet you'll be reminded that after loss there is still life. I highly recommend The Last House on the Street!

I swear, Diane Chamberlain is the absolute best when it comes to dual timelines connected in some way. She knows how to hook you and hold you hostage to two completely different time periods. The Last House on the Street is yet another masterfully written, somehow interwoven, gripping story.

It's 1965 and LBJ has yet to sign into law voting rights for black citizens. Ellie feels a deep urge to help make a difference in her Carolina county. A white girl, in the south, helping people of color. How do you think that's gonna go? You're not wrong. And Chamberlain puts you in it.

In 2010, Kayla is still mourning the loss of her husband. He passed in an accident in the home they designed together while it was under construction. She's just about to move in when she receives a visit from some weird lady who tells her not to. Odd, right? What does this have to do with 1965?

These two stories intertwine in a perfect storm and you really don't see the truth until the very end. You'll think you know beforehand, but you're probably wrong.

Family, love, racism, friendship...Chamberlain covers it all.

I received an advanced copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The most amazing powerful story that I have read in a long time. This is told in a dual timeline and was fascinated by both stories. Ellie's story takes place in the summer of 1965 and Kayla's in 2010.

Ellie had everything going for her, a boyfriend, going to college to be a pharmacist when she decides to spend her summer volunteering for the SCOPE project. That summer changed her for the rest of her life.

Kayla a young widow is moving into her dream house when unusual things begin to happen. It's the same street where Ellie grew up. A friendship develops and hidden secrets come unburied.

This is book that I could not put down, many tears were shed of racial injustice that was there in the 1960's. A story of forbidden love. How one summer changed the lives of so many. I highly recommend this book!

The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain is a story told in two different timelines. In one, its 2010 and in the other, its 1965. Two different times, but what is the significance in them? In 2010, Kayla lost her husband in an accident while they were building their dream house. Now Kayla and her daughter are getting ready to move in, but should they? In 1965, Ellie is young and determined to change the world. She joins the SCOPE project against her family’s wishes.

Kayla and her daughter move into the house, but something is not right. Meanwhile, in 1965, Ellie is learning how different and hard life can be. How do these stories intercept? You will be captivated until the very end!

Happy reading!

I adore Diane Chamberlain and have loved her recent books more and more. That being said, this book was not in the same rankings as her previous. She touched on a hard topic and did it well. The development of the story was good, but the present/past time lines didn't work for me. The characters also were just sort of "eh" for me. I didn't especially care about the characters themselves, just the events. All in all, a solid enjoyable read, but not the instant 5 stars Chamberlain usually gets from me.

In this haunting story, time moves backwards to Ellie Hockley’s life in 1965. Ellie lives in North Carolina in the deep south. She is a pharmaceutical student in college, preparing to step in at her father’s pharmacy when her studies are completed. Ellie’s life seems complete. She’s dating a local, will have a good job after she graduates, and her best friend Brenda is getting married. But, after going to a meeting about helping to register black people to vote during the upcoming summer, her life changes forever.

Against her parents, brother and friends wishes, Ellie makes the decision to go fight for black voters and their families. With volunteers coming from all different states, her being a southern girl makes her decision looked upon by other southerners as her being a traitor. Where Ellie is from, there are few black people and there are KKK meetings. Unfortunately, this puts the black families in which Ellie stays with in great jeopardy.

When a group of the volunteers decide to drive to Ellie’s small town, Round Hill to attend a KKK meeting, Ellie is shocked at what is being said and who is in attendance. When Ellie is seen at the meeting, she becomes fodder for the town. As do her parents and brother whose livelihood becomes impacted by her decisions. In the meantime, Ellie finds herself falling for someone she knows she will be unable to be with.

Flash forward to the year 2010 and Kayla Carter, an architect who along with her husband have been building an incredible house in Round Hill. Unfortunately, Kayla’s young husband dies in an accident while the house is being built and she is left a widow with a young daughter. Still uncomfortable about moving into the now finished house without her husband, Kayla is visited by a strange woman who seems to know too much about her and her family. She warns Kayla that someone could be killed if she moves into the house with her child. Although the police think this is just a random crazy person, she is taking the threats seriously. With a lake, woods and a dilapidated tree house on the land and finding out KKK meetings used to be held back there, she is taking no chances and decides a fence needs to be installed. Kayla’s dreamhouse is becoming a nightmare.

Then strange occurrences begin to happen on her property. If it wasn’t for her neighbor next door, Ellie Hockley, who has come back to Round Hill to take care of her ailing mother and dying brother, she does not know what she would do. But Ellie basically keeps to herself and is not opened to talking about the past.

As the two stories which are told in separate chapters, begin to collide Ellie and Kayla discover their lives are deeply intertwined. Decades old shocking secrets will be revealed which will change their lives forever.

Once again Diane Chamberlain has written a powerful thought-provoking story about hate, love and suppression as she has become well-known to be the master. Thank you #NetGalley #St. Martin’s Press #DianeChamberlain #TheLastHouseontheStreet for the advanced copy.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy of this book for my honest review.

Interesting story set in 1960's and 2010 south. A beautiful story of love, loss, fighting spirit and the power to overcome.

In the 1960's Ellie (a born and raised southern girl) works with SCOPE, a group dedicated to racial equality and helping people in poor, rural communities register to vote. SCOPE was a real life organization in 1965 founded in part by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was very interesting and also uncomfortable reading about what African American people had to go through for the same basic rights that the white population don't even think twice about. Unfortunately in 2022 that battle is not over.

In 2010 Kayla and her daughter Rainie have just moved into their dream house. Unfortunately Kayla has just been windowed and when strange things start to occur on her property she has to learn to fight for the truth for her and her daughter's safety.

Two stories that seem separate but come together seamlessly in the end.

Diane Chamberlain has always been a must-read author for me, but "The Last House on the Street" has cemented her position as one of my favorite authors. She is the master of the duel timeline technique. I was completely engrossed by the stories from both timelines and was kept guessing until the very end as to how those timelines would merge. Like all of Diane's books, this one has vivid and realistic characters that come to life to the reader. This book does not shy away from hard topics and doesn't whitewash or sugarcoat the ugly parts of United States' history. Part historical fiction and part mystery, "The Last House on the Street" has something for every fiction reader. It's a story that will stick with me for a long time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the privilege of reading an advanced digital copy of this fabulous book in exchange for my honest review. Five stars!