The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton was a rather unusual book. It tells of Elodie Winslow, an archivist working in modern London who finds a rather unusual set of items, a leather satchel containing a picture of a beautiful woman in Victorian clothing and a sketchpad of a house that seems rather familiar. As she works to identify the woman and the house the story travels back to Birdie Bell. She is a young woman and orphan living in London who is forced to work as a thief by the woman who took her in after the father, a clockmaker, left for America to escape some debts. After she starts working amongst the middle classes she manages to run into Edward Radcliffe, a rather young but up and coming painter, who wishes for her to model for some paintings. When she is invited to spend the summer with Edward and some friends at his house, Birchwood Manor, she finds herself wishing for a chance to be more than she is. As Elodie finds herself drawn in by the mystery of the items she manages to identify both the woman and the house, along with her own family ties to the mystery in question.
I am not sure what I was expecting with this story but I don’t necessarily think that it was what the story ended up being. That being said, I was enthralled by this story though I will admit a large part of that is due to how well it drew out the mystery of what had happened to Birdie. The story did a great job of hyping the mystery and making it seem dark and dangerous and mysterious. There were numerous references to another murder from around the time that Birdie had disappeared. I don’t want to spoil the story but let’s just say that it was not even close to what I was expecting it to be and leave it at that. The story was very well done as it smoothly navigated multiple times and multiple narrators to slowly reveal what had actually happened though it still feels like certain things were left unexplained, at least to the other characters anyway. I found myself fascinated by how the story and events played out over time and the various techniques used in the narration process. There were times where I felt like the pacing was slow but only because I was getting impatient to find out what had actually happened to Birdie. The story itself actually plays out pretty fast, well Elodie’s story does. It is just a little weird to realize that the different timelines have different pacing. Overall, it was an incredible story about how things, people, and events have connections in some of the weirdest and most unusual ways and how we tend to seek out those connections hoping they have some kind of meaning. I am happy to give this book four out of five stars.
This book is a very weird blend of contemporary fiction and historical fiction so it would probably appeal to those who prefer either of those genres and would especially appeal to those who like stories where those genres intersect. It does cover multiple time periods including both World Wars as well as the Victorian Period along with a few others so be prepared for that. There are references to stealing and murder but the murder is not necessarily graphic and the stealing is relatively minor references. I would have no issues recommending this book to readers as young as fourteen or fifteen though it is aimed primarily at adults. Either way it is a good read and I recommend that you consider trying it if it sounds interesting. As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.