This is the story of an English Great House, told through the stories of two women, one in the 1940’s and the other in the late nineteenth century. A World War II widow inherits the house and in it finds the diary of Maude Gower, who was the ward of the owner of the house beginning in 1876. What follows is predominantly Maude’s story of the rather unsavory way she came to own Orchard House. I had a hard time with this as an audiobook because the narrator’s pace is positively glacial. I had to speed it up to two times the normal speed to get through the book; this may just be a publishing glitch, but it’s problematic

Set in 1945 Peggy inherits the orchard house from her late husband's aunt Maude. While in the house Peggy finds a diary written by a teenage Maude who is describing a time in her life when both of her parents passed away and she was forced to go and live with Ms. Kitty Greenaway, someone she didn’t know and none of her family liked. She went there already thinking the worst of Ms. Greenaway.

After spending some time with her she starts to have conflicting thoughts about if Ms. Greenaway is actually a bad person. I took this message as something we need to apply to all of our lives. Make your own judgment and opinions of others. If someone tells you that a person is bad before you just believe it and go with it, make your own judgment.

Since Maude is just a young girl the way a lot of events are described with the innocence of a child were very clever writing that I enjoyed. My favorite was when she was confused by a kiss and the way she described it. It's something only a child could get away with and Elizabeth Brooks really nailed it.

The ending of both the journal and the book made me want to discuss my thoughts with someone else. I feel this will spark some fun debates. I really loved how you get a crazy conclusion to the journal, but then you still get another great ending with Peggy's story.

As for the narration Elle Potter does a great job at keeping you invested. She puts emotion into it and is what really kept me going during some areas where the story slowed down a bit. I would listen to another book narrated by her.

I am so thankful to both Tin House books, RB Media, and Elizabeth Brooks for granting me this advanced listener copy of The House in the Orchard, which is set to hit shelves on September 27, 2022.

The House in the Orchard depicts the unfortunate lives of the Gower family after the loss of both parental figures, following the estate's learning of the father's infidelity in the mid to late 1800s. Maude is left to the care of a distant "relative" while her older brother is away at University. We hear from the happenings of the Orchard Homestead, where she is receiving enrichment care from Miss Greenaway, through the entries of Maude's diary. This diary is initially found by Peggy more than 50 years later after she comes to inherit the homestead.

Flashback to the 1870s, we learn that Miss Greenaway is none other than the mistress of the late Mr. Gower, once Maude comes to this realization she is stricken with anger, grief, and a flood of other reactionary emotions, feeling distraught that this information was withheld and that she was left to the care of this adulterer.

With time though, she learns to grow and love Miss Greenaway, as does her older brother Frank Gowen, which brings out the jealous green monster in Maude, who longs for her familial unit to stay pure. As their love story begins to flourish, Miss Greenaway's untimely death plague the homestead and all of those who yearned to love her, including Maude to some extent, but is she as innocent as she projects?

Peggy with the help of her father-in-law, Frank Gowen, learn to unravel the secrets that the family kept hidden for so long in this mysterious historical fiction that you WON'T be able to put down. Trust me. I finished this one in a DAY!