“The Clockmaker’s Daughter”

by Kate Morton

REVIEW BY MEREDITH MCKINNIE

“There are few certainties in this world, but I will tell you something I know: the truth depends on who it is that’s telling the story.”

I am so in love with this book. Kate Morton creates a timeless, century-shifting examination of people connected via their experiences by the river in a house called Birchwood Manor. Part fairytale and part mystery, the novel explores love, loss, story telling, truth, and the harsh realities of the rich and poverty-stricken. The characters are unique, weaving in and out of the story randomly, with their lives overlapping gracefully. Elodie, an archivist, comes across a picture of a Victorian woman and feels drawn to her face and the setting of the portrait. The home’s former owner Edward Radcliffe, a beloved and tortured artist, abandoned the home after an unfortunate accident. Edward’s sister Lucy inherited the home from her brother and created a school for girls that promptly closed its doors under mysterious circumstances. The secrets of the summer at Birchwood Manor where Edward, his friends, Lucy, and Edward’s muse come into focus as the stories of the home’s inhabitants over the years evolve. 

Morton writes beautifully, layering the narrative with historical facts and artistic observations. She sets a scene so poignantly that readers feel as if they are living in the Victorian era, all while frequently returning to the present and Elodie’s search for the truth of a mother lost too soon. Overlaying all the intricate accounts is the omnipresent clockmaker’s daughter, the unknowing ally of the home’s visitors. When Leonard occupies the home after enduring the atrocities of World War II, he becomes entranced by the manor’s hidden history and vows to uncover the truth. Juliet, escaping the onslaught of the Nazis, finds the safehaven for her three children, drawn to the little village where she and her husband spent their honeymoon. Jack’s present-day search for the Radcliffe Blue at Birchwood Manor spills the truth about that fateful summer that left one woman dead, and forced an artist to abandon the place he adored. 

The structure of the story is untraditional, not only shifting back and forth in time, but under and through time, unrestrained by its consistency. The story is a metaphor for the clockmaker’s daughter’s abundance of time, and how characters are beholden to time’s limitations. Like every clock her father crafted, the people hide their own motivations, even from themselves, and realize how fragile life is. “Each clock is unique. And just like a person, its face, whether plain or pretty, is but a mask for the intricate mechanism it conceals.” If you like period pieces, this novel is one. If you like mystery, this novel is also one. If love is what you seek, The Clockmaker’s Daughter laces romantic love and a love of a place. Birchwood Manor evolves as each of its inhabitants, and time catches up with everyone except the clockmaker’s daughter.