The Housekeeper's Secret: A Novel

Iona Grey

Aug 2024 · Macmillan Audio · Narrated by Raphael Corkhill and Shakira Shute

About this audiobook

"This BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN HISTORICAL is a SUMPTUOUS, PAGE-TURNING DELIGHT filled with an enticing mix of FORBIDDEN ROMANCE and buried secrets.” —Ellen Marie Wiseman, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

Duty, desire, and deception reside under one roof.

Standing in the remote windswept moors of Northern England, Coldwell Hall is the perfect place to hide. For the past five years, Kate Furniss has maintained her professional mask so carefully that she almost believes she is the character she has created: Coldwell’s respectable housekeeper.

It is the summer of 1911 that brings new faces above and below the stairs of Coldwell Hall—including the handsome and mysterious new footman, Jem Arden. Just as the house’s shuttered rooms open, so does Kate’s guarded heart to a love affair that is as intense as it is forbidden. But Kate can feel her control slipping as Jem harbors secrets of his own.

Told in alternating timelines from the last sun-drenched summer of the Edwardian Age to the mud-filled trenches of WWI, The Housekeeper's Secret opens its door to a world of romance, the truths we hold onto, and the past we must let go.

"RICH IN ATMOSPHERE AND BRIMMING WITH INTRIGUE, THE HOUSEKEEPER'S SECRET IS NOT TO BE MISSED!" –Amanda Skenandore, award-winning author of The Nurse's Secret

"BRILLIANTLY RESEARCHED...I rooted for Kate, fell completely in love with Jem, and will hold their unforgettable story close for a very long time to come." –Jenny Ashcroft, author of Island in the East and The Officer and the Spy

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

Ratings and reviews

This novel actually took me quite some time to get into. I found the pacing quite slow in the beginning, and even though not much was happening yet, it still took me awhile to figure out what was going on, while being introduced to the house and the characters. The book is primarily set in 1911, focusing on the “downstairs” staff of Coldwell Hall (with brief vignettes set during the war in 1916). There is a lot of staff to get to know, and it did take me quite awhile to get them all straight. BUT, even though I was struggling so much early on, I didn’t DNF, and I’m glad I didn’t because I actually really enjoyed it! The romance itself is definitely important to the story, but I felt the mystery was the part that kept me reading. (Until the end when I was just hoping a praying for the best for our characters!) Audiobook notes: Really well done. I’ll admit, it took some adjusting for me to keep track of whose POV we were on, because there were mid-chapter, abrupt changes throughout. But once I got a handle on the cast of characters, I was better able to keep track of these changes, but I imagine it could be potentially distracting for others. Thank you @macmillan.audio for providing me an ALC of this book. All opinions are my own. What this book is giving: ✅ Historical Fiction ✅ Mystery ✅ Romance ✅ 1911-1916 ✅ Downton Abbey-esque

About the author

IONA GREY has a degree in English Language and Literature from Manchester University, an obsession with history and an enduring fascination with the lives of women in the twentieth century. She has three grown up daughters, and lives in Cheshire with the husband she met on the last night of university, over thirty years ago. She is a firm believer in love at first sight and happy ever after.