The Last House on the Street was an amazing, poignant and beautiful story that will stick with me for a long time.

The story is told in alternating timelines in 2010 and 1965. The 2010 timeline follows Kayla, who is recently widowed when her husband dies in a tragic accident. She has a 3 year old daughter named Rainie. Her father, Reed, is Kayla’s source of support and she leans on him for help with Rainie. Kayla and her late husband, were in the process of building their dream home. Now, Kayla and Rainie are left to move into the home without Jackson and find a way to move forward. The other timeline follows Ellie, a young woman in search of a way to make a difference in the world. She leaves her comfortable, predictable life behind, and joins up with other college students who have volunteered to recruit and register Black Americans to vote.

I don’t want to spoil anything but there is a point these two storylines intersect and it’s such a good story!

This is my first read by Diane Chamberlin and as soon as I finished this book, I was looking for what else I could read that she wrote. Her writing style is so descriptive and it pulled me right in. I’m not usually a huge fan of books with changing timelines, but it was done so well in this book. It broached some sensitive topics such as racism and interracial relationships and did it in such a thought provoking way. All in all this book was powerful, thought provoking and came out as one of my top reads for the year. 4.5 stars!

This book currently has a pub date of 11/11/2022. Don’t miss it!

Thank you to NetGalley + St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

Dual timeline book that completely engaged me in both stories. Set during the civil rights period in America and present day, this is an image into a small southern town and the secrets kept that destroyed lives.

Hatred

A sad and heartbreaking tale of the 1960's civil right movement called SCOPE. A group of college students rallying around the right to vote for Black Americans. How the Klan tried to stop the movement and how it overlapped into the future as far as the next generation.

How one girl's involvement so angered her family, her friends and her towns people that it ended in an event that was so horrible it was remembered for generations.

In the telling of the story it outlined the conditions that some Black Americans were living and how having the right to vote and with that vote electing those that would help them improve conditions would be beneficial to so many.

Ellie was a young woman, a college student, passionate about civil rights and the movement. She did not know that joining SCOPE (Summer Community Organization and Political Education) would change her whole life, alienate her from her family and cost the life of the boy she fell in love with.

Kayla , years later, moves into her new home in the neighborhood as Ellie is living with her mother and brother after returning from California to care for them. In this dual timeline this story is the least interesting part. However, it ties Ellie and Kayla and an event that happens years ago. It also shows that hatred can keep going even long after events in the past are over and done.

The story was interesting in that it was written about an actual time in history. Growing up in the west I was not at all involved with the civil rights movement as it was not important in my area. I actually know very little about it except for what is in history books and on Television growing up.

It was a sad story and very well written although the hatred and the betrayal of Ellie's family and best friend was so very hard to read. I just don't understand at all how a family could be that heartless.

I think it was a good story and that I would recommend it.

Thanks to Diane Chamberlain for writing another great book, to St. Martin's Press for publishing it and to NetGalley for making it available for me to read.

I very often hate books with dual timelines as I find that I have a hard time with characters and plots jumping back and forth. However,Diane Chamberlain does a superbly beautiful job of it and it was an easy and powerful read. Ellie Hockley was born and raised in her little town of Round Hill,North Carolina. She is expected to grown up and be a true southern woman just like her mother. Ellie wants to help fight for civil rights, and her need to take a stand and make a difference have her helping out during the summer to register black voters in surrounding counties.
By doing so Ellie sets herself apart from her family and the community she's known her whole life and has not only scandalized her family but has discovered how little she truly knows about her family, friends, and community.
Many years later Kayla who has just lost her husband during the construction of their dream home has become neighbors with Ellie. Kayla already has reservations about moving into their dream home due to her husband's tragic death, and these fears are heightened as she learns more about the lands mysterious history.
Both women's story's are beautifully written and create an edge of your seat thriller that does not allow you to put down your book as you cannot wait for what is written on the the next page. The Last House on the Street is not a book that you can easily forget. It's themes of love, family, community, and betrayal stay with you. This book is one of my top favorite reads this year and I would not be surprised if it makes the best seller list.

5 stars
Not at all what I expected. I do feel there is a audience for this book. It is not for me. Thanks for the ARC of this book.

Oh man. So good! Two stories, two plots, two generations. Two seemingly unconnected story lines weaving themselves together until merging completely at a shocking end.
Ellie – 1965: Home from university, Ellie announces to her family she will be spending her summer volunteering to register Black voters in anticipation of LBJ’s Voting Rights Act, a federal move to end racial discrimination in voting. Her family is outraged at this decision, as is the whole of her southern community. This is a dangerous decision, but her passion for Civil Rights overrides the threatening onslaught of opposition.
Kayla – 2010: A young widow; she and her young daughter are moving into a brand-new house just down the street from Ellie’s old familial home. Co-designing the house with her husband just before his death, Kayla’s excitement has turned to dread. The dense wood behind the house now seems cloying; the small lake behind the trees now seems dark and murky. Nothing is how she thought it would be. Especially since someone is determined to drive her away….
While Kayla’s current timeline leans toward more of a psychological thriller, Ellie’s effort with the Civil Rights movement brings us a different kind of horror. The mix of the two genres is unexpected, and I love it. I love being able to feel Kayla’s fear as she looks out into the seemingly haunted woods behind her new home. And I can feel Ellie’s determination as she faces the opposition from the very people she has known her whole life. We get a glimpse of an era past while experiencing the repercussions still echoing in the present. I was completely immersed.
Diane Chamberlain has done an excellent job keeping the reader guessing as she weaves these two stories together. I expect this book to get more attention as it nears its release date, and I will be posting a full review on my book blog, The Tattered Spine, at that same time. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, and especially Diane Chamberlain for allowing me early access to this awesome work!

Fair warning here, if you can't handle deeply emotional novels then steer clear because this one will have you in tears.

I wasn't ready for the punch that this tale packed. It's my first Chamberlain read and I am still stunned.

This story has two timelines: 1965 during the war on segregation, following a young southern white woman on a mission for equality and 2010 while a mother and daughter are grieving their husband and father's sudden death when a strange woman comes into their lives.

It was riveting with an excellent cast of characters. It's poignant and affecting. It was more emotional than I had anticipated and less thrilling and twisting than I had hoped. But a gem in its own right--just not exactly what I'd been expecting.

I had no idea what The Last House on the Street was about but I have loved literally everything Diane Chamberlain writes so I knew no matter the storyline, I’d enjoy it, and that I did!
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For those familiar with her books, this one felt reminiscent of Necessary Lies, the first book I read by her that made me fall in love with her writing. The Last House on the Street is dual timeline but the heart of the story takes place in the civil rights era of North Carolina on the eve of the signing of the Voter Rights Act. It’s such a powerful story about love and grief that will haunt me for a while.⁣
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This book is scheduled for publication on January 11 and I highly recommend for fans of Chamberlain and anyone interested in non-WWII historical fiction. I learned so much about the SCOPE program, and I live in NC so I always love stories with ties to the state. I will say, this book will likely be very triggering for people so read with care and caution (content warnings below).⁣

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CW: racism, discrimination, racially motivated murders, grief, death of a loved one

Wow! An interesting novel that covers two periods of time. A page turner, but also a heart breaker. So sad how man treats his fellow man. This is fiction, but I recall reading about the things that happen. I've never understood racism. We are all humans. Not a happily ever after tale.

This is a dual timeline, historical fiction book. In the present day, Kayla is moving into a house she and her late husband designed. In 1964, Ellie joins the SCOPE project, in which black and white college students volunteered their time to help register black voters in the rural South.

It took me a little while to get into the story, but by about 50% I was hooked. I found both POV characters and storylines to be interesting and the ending was very satisfying. I received a free digital copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

This was a very good book, it was told in two timelines, one from 1965 the other from 2010. In 1965 Eleanor (Ellie) is a young woman wanting to participate in a program that encourages black people to register to vote (the SCOPE program). Her dad is very opposed to her doing it, but she forges his signature and is accepted. In 2010, Kayla and her daughter, are getting ready to move into their new house, a house designed by Kayla and her husband who died in an accident during construction. Kayla is approached at work by a woman warning her not to move into the house and mentioning details that make Kayla fear for her daughter. Ellie finds out that black people living in her county are largely poor and live without electricity, indoor washrooms, and with many family members in a small house. But she is welcomed into their lives, that is until the family is targeted by members of the KKK and she is moved to another house, where something similar happens and is moved again. Kayla meanwhile meets the present day Ellie who has come home to look after her mother and brother, both are suffering from medical issues. Kayla starts to learn about some of the history of the street she lives on and incidents that happened in a clearing behind her house. This story was very faced paced, though I did enjoy the 1965 timeline more than the 2010 one, overall though a very good book, I recommend. Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.

The Last House on the Street is an engaging, thoughtful and horrific mystery that the past cries out to be solved.

As two architects, Kayla Carter and her husband, Jackson, designed and built their dream home in the exclusive Shadow Ridge Estates in Round Hill, North Carolina. Backing onto woods, as the last house on the street, they had the prime location in the new housing estate and within walking distance of the Hockley’s home that stood for a very long time. Just before the house move, Jackson died in an accident at their new home, leaving Kayla unsure whether she now wanted to move or not. She is torn between the house bringing up terrible memories of Jackson’s death and memories of how passionate they were as they designed the house for each other and their daughter Rainie. Before Kayla moves, a strange woman warns her off moving into the house. After Kayla and Rainie move, things start happening, leaving Kayla wondering if someone is playing tricks on them or ghosts from the past have an issue with her house being close to woods that harbour secrets. These issues Kayla discusses with her father, who lives close by, and Ellie Hockley, who has returned to Round Hill for the first time since she left forty-five years ago.

In 1965 a young twenty-year-old Ellie Hockley felt compelled to join the SCOPE project to encourage black voters to register to vote when President Lyndon B Johnson would sign the Voting Rights Act. The SCOPE project was an incredibly ambitious scheme to recruit white college students (typically from Northern states) to live with Southern black families and encourage them to prepare to vote. As one of the only Southern students enrolled in the programme, Ellie faces incredible pressure from her family and friends and breaks her relationship off with long-term boyfriend Reed Miller. The hidden discrimination, even within families, is strikingly drawn in this novel. The incitement to the conflict that typically followed crowd gatherings, like the KKK (or Maga crowd), is startling how seemingly ordinary people can be drawn into unconscionable actions.

Contemplating the two timelines illustrated in the novel, we cannot help but consider how much things have changed from 1965 to 2010 and how much they have remained the same. The step forward to racial equality in the US is a torturous one, and reflecting the 1960s onto today’s world shows the open disparity in the treatment of blacks and whites. A story with voter suppression as its central theme and the brutality handed out to prevent blacks voting may not be as brutal today, but it certainly has the same objective, albeit more covertly. Recently there have been excellent books, like “Sing, Unburied Sing”, “The Prophets”, and “The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois” from black writers who convey a perspective and a deep pain that cannot be tapped into by white authors. However, I appreciate how Diane Chamberlain provides the view of white people who have taken up the cause for equality, regardless of race, colour or creed.

I thoroughly enjoy reading a book that, on its face, is a fascinating story with drama, suspense and mystery, but layered on top of historical events that educate and inform. Diane Chamberlain is building a reputation as an author that can uniquely deliver this with the right balance between storytelling and fact. The more intriguing timeline is 1965 with the dangerous situation Ellie encounters; although there are moments, I had difficulty accepting the choices made. The 2010 timeline with Kayla seems to be of secondary concern and mainly used to tie up several mysteries from the past without a strong theme of its own.

I enjoy Diane Chamberlain’s writing and her desire to share her perspective on racial discrimination in the US. I would recommend reading this book, and I want to thank St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing a free ARC in return for an honest review.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Diane Chamberlain does it again! This is an amazing story, told from two viewpoints 45 years apart: Kayla in 2010, a widow with a little girl, preparing to move into the grand home she and her husband designed before his death, and Ellie in 1965, a twenty-year old white southern girl getting involved in the Civil Rights Movement. The past and present weave together and present a brilliant and heartbreaking story about love, justice, and family.

I’ve been a fan of Diane Chamberlain for many years, and I was excited to read her newest book. The subject matter was interesting and I learned a lot about the civil rights movement. I had never heard of the Voting Rights Act before, so I liked finding out about that part of our country’s history. The mystery of the red-haired woman kept me turning pages well into the night. I was both surprised by and satisfied with the ending. It wrapped the story up well. This wasn’t my favorite of Ms. Chamberlain’s books, but it was a solid and enjoyable read.

WOW!!! Once again Diane Chamberlain does not disappoint, on the contrary. I LOVE this book! Once I had 1/3 left of it, I simply could not put it down…the way Ellie describes the night everything went down, you can feel her emotions and I was right there with her. The power of illustration and transporting you inside the book….that’s what makes a great author.

I have already recommended this book to my friends and will continue to do so.

Thank you NetGalley, Diane Chamberlain, and St. Martin’s Press for giving me this ARC!!! LOVED IT!!!

This was a moving, historical fiction novel tackling civil rights and also forbidden romance. I really enjoyed the writing style and dual timelines between 1965 and 2010. Thanks so much to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I will be sure to check out more books by this author!

So good! Really enjoyed the back and forth plots and the ending was awesome. Definitely recommend. Great thriller! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

I was drawn into the story immediately. Loved the dual timelines. This book covers some many topics but ultimately it is a story of love and redemption.

This was a book I almost passed on but am so happy I had a chance to experience it. It has history, mystery and real social issues that were all so well done. Told in dual timelines - 1965 and 2010, the story takes place in Round Hill, NC.

(2010) Kayla Carter is a recent widow with a 4-year old daughter. Kayla's husband died in accident which happened as their dream house was being built. The house is a a grand McMansion with some fifty windows and, it is now ready to move in when Kayla has a strange woman that shows up at her office. Kayla is also an architect as was her late husband and, the woman advises Kayla against moving into that new home. Who is this woman and should she take this as a threat or at least report this to the police? Does the woman have anything to do with the strange things that begin happening once Kayla and her daughter move in?

(1965) Ellie Hockley is a college student from Round Hill involved in The Scope Project -- students who were committed to registering Blacks so that they could exercise their right to vote. This, of course. in the 1960s South had to be done secretly. Ellie couldn't even tell her parents as they never would have approved. What, if anything, does Ellie have to do with the present day story involving Kayla?

I loved this story and the way it played out. I really felt like I got to know the characters, especially Ellie and, even though the story was sad at times and it mad me mad as well, it was an important story to tell. and the author did a great job. The audio book was read by Susan Bennett who did a great job. Highly recommended.

In 1965, Ellie, an idealistic, privileged white coed full of righteous indignation defied her family, her boyfriend, and her town by joining a Civil Rights crusade volunteering to spend the summer securing commitments in Black neighborhoods to register to vote. The mission is dangerous; seriously dangerous.

In 2010, Kayla has just lost her husband in a house they designed together on an exclusive end lot surrounded by trees. She views her new home with dread but has no alternative but to occupy.
It’s not long before she is confronted with shocking circumstances, gossip regarding the lot, dark history of the area. Then she meets Ellie, now 65 living temporarily in the old home up the street who is caring for a terminally ill brother and elderly mother.

The author alternates between first person accounts of the experiences of Ellie and that of the more contemporary Kayla trying to make sense of what is happening with her new home. The accounts as related by Ellie brings to life the circumstances of those she encounters, the friendships, social injustice, racial prejudice, and eventually forbidden love. Prejudices, suspicions, and terrorist activities. The atmosphere is alive with tension, static, dread.

The 1965 accounts are electric, pervasive, and lead the frank, mind-blowing plot. Gradually, the two main characters stories merge, peeling away minute reveals, building tension, heartbreak, fear.

The storytelling is immersive, impactful, tragic. It’s a tough read and one that will play over again in your mind for some time to come. I highly recommend this novel, now on pre-order, and will be looking for other books by this author. I’m hooked.