—Book Review—
Title: The Last House on the Street
Author: Diane Chamerlain
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Huge praise for Diane Chamberlain and her latest novel The Last House on the Street. This was a brave story to tell. One that I haven’t stopped thinking about since I finished and one that will stick with me for a long time. Aren’t those the best books!?
I’m a big fan of historical fiction and coming of age stories so I naturally preferred the 1965 timeline vs. 2010 one, but both come together, beautifully. A dual POV narrative is my favorite story telling.
1965 - Ellie Hockley, the daughter of the towns pharmacist, has grown up in a well-to-do neighborhood of Round Hill. She’s enrolled in college to follow in her Dad’s footsteps. She’s seriously dating a bank manager which thrills her mother who has expectations for Ellie to be a proper Southern Lady. But Ellie isn’t so sure about the future her family has chosen for her. Ellie has decided instead of her usual summer of double dates with her best friend and working at the pharmacy with her dad; she wants to volunteer with SCOPE a program that helps register Black voters.
2010 - Kayla Carter and her husband have purchased and designed a beautiful house in a new neighborhood in Round Hill. They are going to live happily ever after there with their three year old daughter, but instead Kayla’s husband dies in an accident. Then a mysterious woman warns her not to move in. Followed bye rumors that the woods and lake behind her house are haunted, threatening notes and vandalism. Kayla’s neighbor, Ellie Hockley, may be the only one who knows the answers.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 The only reason this isn’t a five star is it took a little bit for me to get into this one, but once I was into both timelines I couldn’t stop reading! I felt like I learned so much in the 1965 timeline. I had never heard of the SCOPE program before. Be sure to read the author’s note at the end of the book too. She offers more insight and some addition reading.
CW: Racism, Death, Violence, KKK
Thank you @bookfriendsbookclub for reading with us! I’m looking forward to our discussion and author zoom!