The House of Lost Secrets by Anstey Harris
Book Overview:
The House of Lost Secrets by Anstey Harris is a deep exploration of the complexities of female friendship, the importance of making peace with your past, and the power of forgiveness.
We meet Jo Wilding as she’s encountering another unexpected life change after a rough divorce and financial trouble. She’s all set to spend a weekend with her best friend Rachel Willoughby at the Scottish cottage Clachan. Rachel and her family have been a constant in her life since childhood as she sought to escape her strict mother and her religious fanaticism. However this weekend Jo suspects Rachel has a secret that she’s been hiding and is finally ready to reveal all.
What Jo doesn’t know is that this weekend will change the trajectory of her future leaving her questioning her friendship with Rachel and her perception of who she was. As she tries to work through untangling Rachel’s secrets she is forced to face the secrets that she hid from Rachel and her tumultuous past. Left to work through these memories and emotions alone Jo must decide on how she can make peace with her past and work towards forgiveness.
Book Review:
I must preface this to say that I don’t want to give too many details about this book as I believe the synopsis was intentionally vague the author wants you to experience this book as the story unfolds before you without knowing too much of what’s going on. What I can say is that this is a poignant, pensive, and emotional read exploring grief, forgiveness, female friendship, religious trauma, a strained mother-daughter relationship, and how our past holds the key to determining who we are in the present.
While all of these themes and topics were interesting I struggled to make sense of them in the beginning because no apparent structure or timeline was detailing the events of Jo’s past and her memories. It left me feeling disjointed and confused as to what was going on and how it pertained to the story.
I also wasn’t expecting another viewpoint for this story and I’m still not certain what the point of this storyline had to do with the main story pitched in the synopsis. Aside from these two elements I did enjoy the story and found it quite compelling.
My Thoughts:
When it comes to the story itself I felt that Jo and Rachel’s friendship while close and tight-knit was slightly unhealthy. Jo idolized and revered Rachel placing her on a dangerously high pedestal. Much of Jo’s feelings for Rachel came from her wanting to be her and live her life. Have the family that she had and the money, privilege, and influence she received for being wealthy. As it pertains to Rachel I think she enjoyed this dynamic in their friendship Jo in a way needed her and saw her as an escape from the disappointment that was her life. Rachel needed to be on that pedestal as much as Jo needed to put her on that pedestal.
Hence why I believe their friendship was slightly toxic and unhealthy it was based on false perceptions regarding each other and their own and once Jo uncovered Rachel’s secret she took it as a betrayal of some sort. Her perfect image of her friend was shattered. And the worst part is that Jo never suspected or guessed at the troubles her friend struggled with.
As for Jo her mother’s strictness and intolerance to truly connect and listen to her daughter by forcing her religious ideals on her pushed Jo away and in effect traumatized her. This is how she began to become fixated and enamored with the Willoughby’s they were her escape and they cared and listened to her nurturing her through her teenage years and seeing her. All of which she wanted from her mother and never received.
Even when she reached out to her mother for help she was again met with her steadfastness in regards to her religion and not validated or listened to. Her mother’s attitude damaged Jo and is the reason why many years later she comes to see herself as at fault and to blame for a situation that she isn’t to blame for. I resented that in this story we never got Jo to heal this thinking and accept the truth that she was a victim but for some reason, the author chose not to do this and left Jo feeling resigned to the fact that she indeed was the aggressor and cause of her trauma.
As for the conclusion of this story, it was satisfactory but I felt like something was missing. While Jo made minor growth just felt it wasn’t enough especially as I mentioned earlier regarding troubling beliefs she held about herself and past circumstances. So, while things were in some sense wrapped up there were still a few loose ends that were left dangling in the wind.
