The House in the Water (ePub)

A secluded house. A lost notebook. A wartime secret.

1942: Young Irish nurse Ellen arrives at May Day House, tasked with helping the men there rehabilitate. But there's something strange about the house, surrounded by water, on its own island in the Thames. And then there are the men: traumatised by their experiences of war, and subject to troubling methods in a desperate race to get them back to duty. As Ellen gets drawn into the world of May Day House, she starts to realise this will be no place to hide away from her own troubles...

2013: Philip and Meredith are the proud new owners of May Day House. Following a string of tragedies, the couple have moved to the area in search of a new start. But all is not what it seems in the riverside community. As their plans for the rundown house meet resistance from the neighbours, Meredith finds herself slowly unravelling: she hears voices on the water, sees figures where there can be no one there. When she finds an old notebook from the war, she seeks solace in the stories about the former patients of the island.

But will shadows from the past threaten her future happiness - and even her life?

'Beautifully written and delightfully unsettling... an evocative read, set in an unusual landscape, that will pull you in from the first page' - Rachel Burton

Readers LOVE The House on the Water:

The twists and turns revealed kept me turning pages way longer than I was meant to stay awake. The way Meredith's mind gets confused as she learns more and more tugged at my heart, and reading Ellen's experiences with her beau and how his mental health was essentially compartmentalised in an era when there wasn't much knowledge was heartwrenching. ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

'Within the tale, there are elements of the gothic tradition, with old houses, fog, rising waters, stormy weather and more. The reader's pulse rate rises as we are committed to following the action. I thoroughly enjoyed The House In The Water. It consumed me from the start. It was the first book by Victoria Darke but I certainly she she will write more.' ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

'Don't you love a dual time line novel? I do and this one is exceptional - I have read the author's earlier work and this is straying into much darker territory, but I think it only serves to show what a great writer she is... Atmospheric, gripping, with huge heart and impossible to put down - the very best sort of book! ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ Beautiful captivating prose, kept me totally engaged in both timelines.' ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

Wonderful. My first by this author but not the last. ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

'This is definitely **a spellbinding and unsettling tale **with a dash of romance set in WW2 and 2013 that might haunt your dreams and leave you with a lot to think about! A riveting read.' ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿

'I was engrossed in the story from the start. May Day House is a rehab house for soldiers during WWII. They are cared for and sent back to war. Years later a couple buys the house which soon appears to be haunted by the soldiers who had been there. It is a great story.' ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿