Still Scratching My Head After Reading The Clockmaker's Daughter
I've read two other books by Kate Morton: The Distant Hours and The Secret Keeper. Both books were poetically written, atmospheric, mysterious and tragic. And I was satisfied with both. Therefore, I did go into this book with expectations because I am familiar with her style, and my expectations were met in the first-half. This book started off in true Morton style, but the second half crashed and burned for me because it feels rushed and has holes in.
Summary
The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton is a mix of historical fiction and mystery. Readers are taken on a journey across time to put the pieces together about what happened at Birchwood Manor during the summer of 1862 where a robbery, a murder and a disappearance occurred.
Members of the Magenta Brotherhood gathered for a summer at renowned painter Edward Radcliffe's home, Birchwood Manor. Edward, his sister, his favorite model and some friends worked on their artistic projects and enjoyed their time together. But while everyone is out, a robber steals a diamond called the Radcliffe Blue and murders Fanny, Edward's fiancée, in cold blood, escaping from the manor with Edward's favorite model, Lily Millington. But there is more to it than that.
Birdie, a ghost of Birchwood Manor shares her story and her observations of the manor's occupants from the 1910s, 1940s, and 2010s where the Radcliffe Blue changes hands and readers learn what happened to Lily and the members of the Magenta Brotherhood after that fateful summer.
-- Spoilers --
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Characters
This book has many characters, so I tried to highlight the ones I felt played the biggest roles:
Jack Rolands: A former police detective who now does contract work; has two daughters and a wife but is either divorced or separated; tries to convince his (ex) wife to give him another chance; feels he needs to be a hero because his older brother died to save him in a flood as a child.
Edward Radcliffe: Has stereotypical artist's temperament; was a rising star among artists of his time; was engaged to Fanny Brown, but falls in love with Birdie/Lily; is a member of the Magenta Brotherhood; invites the members to his home in the country, Birchwood Manor; is close to his sister Lucy.
Lucy Radcliffe: loves knowledge and is an avid reader; is fearful of not being able to know everything within her lifetime; has strong bond with her brother, Edward, but feared he would leave her as she saw him becoming closer to Birdie/Lily; turns Birchwood Manor into a school for girls that doesn't stay open for long; becomes friends with her student, Ada; decides to carry the guilt of her actions for the rest of her life, burying the truth for others to somehow find.
Leonard Gilbert: veteran of WWII; haunted by memories of his brother who died in the war; feels guilty for sleeping with his brother's fiancée and thinks this led to his brother's death; writes a book on Edward Radcliffe and Birdie/Lily Millington with Lucy as his anonymous source.
Pale Joe/James Stratton: Kind, well-connected and from a wealthy family; philanthropist; one of London's social reformers; friend to Birdie.
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What I Liked
Like her other books that I've read, Kate Morton set up this story well in the first half of the book. Readers can easily put the pieces together with the various characters' POVs. (The second half of the book not so much.)
Cover Art
The cover art is beautiful. I love clock and watch designs. Anything to do with time, particularly time-travel, fascinates me. From the colors to the roman numerals to the gold accents to the elegance of the hands, it is minimal, but so lovely.
Misdirection
The scenes that introduce us to Thurston and his shooting of birds on the roof of the manor were placed well within the story to act as a red herring. One character even mentions that his aim is bad. These red herrings made me think that he would be responsible for Fanny's death and the group would cover it up by saying there was a robbery and that the robber killed Fanny.
Ada's drowning scene was well done; it provides the reader with the uncertainty of whether or not Ada drowned with the presence of the Radcliffe Blue and Birdie/Lily's ghost witnessing the scene.
The Concept of Home
Birchwood Manor is the home or place residence for many characters in this book. I asked my fellow book club members about what their concept of home is. They all had something different, such as a childhood home. For me, home is more of a state of mind and spirit. The scene when Ada's parents leave her at the school and she says that she wants to go home and a staff member responds with "But you are home" reminded me of The Secret Garden because there is a very similar scene in it where the young girl is brought from India to England and must accept her new home.
I had a similar experience when I was very young, maybe 4 years old. I was deeply upset about something and all I could say was that I wanted to go home when I was at home with my mother in the same room and she answered with "But you are home." It was only when I was in college or university that I understood that home is a state of being for me and that I will only find it when I am content, which means that I may never actually find it or that I may have it for a brief time.
Dark and Light
I like that the theme of light and darkness showed up in several instances; it's a concept with which I identify because I am a Libra.
Lucy is in one of the priest holes and sees that while it's dark, there are spots of light that shine and she realizes that without the darkness, she wouldn't notice the light.
Similarly, Leonard thinks the same thing when he watches Elodie's great-grandmother, Juliet, leave the Birchwood Manor:
...it was the very meaningless of life that made it all so beautiful and rare and wonderful. That for all its savagery—because of its savagery—war had brightened every color. That without the darkness one would never notice the stars. (261)
It is as Danny Phantom.exe said: "Without darkness, there is no light and without light, there is no darkness."
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What I Didn't Like
There were too many points of view for my liking. As a reader, I find that switching points of view takes me out of the story most of the time, but with this book, I didn't encounter this. I like that we see how everything is connected, but I think if I hadn't taken notes, I would have forgotten about characters and their side of the overall story.
By Chapter 13, when I got to Leonard's point of view, I honestly did not want to read about his story; I had no care for him. I wanted to know what was happening with Elodie since she was the first character to whom readers are introduced. We don't see her for many chapters because we are introduced to Ada, Leonard and Juliet (aside from Birdie, the main narrator). It felt too long before we see Elodie again. If readers were presented with Birdie first, I think readers would feel more attachment to her. The book is named after Birdie, yet her story is not presented first.
Finding the Photo of Birdie/Lily
I was frustrated with Elodie because she finds the framed photo of a mysterious woman in the box of items belonging to James Stratton, and she wonders about the woman's identity, but takes an extremely long time before opening the back of the frame to look at the back of the photo to see if there was anything written or if there was a hidden item. For me, that's the first thing I would do and I've seen many people do that kind of thing, even with regular documents. For an archivist, I would have thought her curiosity was strong and she would think to do this with a photo right away.
Lack of Supervision
Lucy's school is hosting a big event and one of the activities is to go rowing on the river. Ada decides to join her former bullies in the row boat. They are about 12 years old at a school function and there is no supervision. Apparently, the girls get into the boat just like that and go rowing. I don't know if it's because of the era or what, but I would have thought there would be staff on the grounds who notice or at least have been stationed at the rowboat.
Is Leonard a Killer?
In Chapter 16, I am unsure about the fate of Leonard's brother Tom: "Killed by loss of blood in the long, dark hours after the shrapnel hit, lying out in no-man's-land as Leonard listened from the trenches. (Help me, Lenny, help me.)" This makes me think that Leonard listened to his brother's cries and decided, for some reason, to not help him. Is that why Leonard is haunted by the cries?
The Search for the Radcliffe Blue
Readers are first presented with Jack who is searching for the Radcliffe Blue because he was hired by a descendant of Ada's. The descendant provides Jack with a supposed treasure map of the manor and its grounds along with letters written between Ada and Lucy. In one letter, Lucy is against Ada bringing the Radcliffe Blue back to the manor. In one of Tip's chapters at the end, we learn that Ada brought the diamond with her on her return to the village where Birchwood Manor is located, but she gives it to Tip. If Ada gave the Radcliffe Blue to Tip as child, why was there a treasure map? Why didn't she tell any of her kin that she no longer had the diamond? How is it that, in her letters to and from Lucy, neither one of them refers to the diamond as "the Radcliffe Blue"?
Rushed Ending
Mystery lovers, such as myself, won't like this book. The second half of it feels rushed because there are many plot holes and unanswered questions surrounding Birdie/Lily's death:
- What caused Lucy's concussion?
- When Lucy wakes up after her accident, the police say they found Lucy in the priest hole. Knowing that Lucy found the document from the 1500s on top of a book shelf that talks about the priest holes in the house, how did the police know the house had a priest hole? And if they knew about one priest hole, why didn't they know about the second one where Birdie/Lily was?
- Looking online, I found some sources saying that priests would sometimes suffocate in the priest hole because it was too small with no air, etc. But when Lucy finds Birdie/Lily's body years later, she says that she had done research and found that several men had been saved by the priest hole Birdie/Lily was hiding in. If that's true, why did Birdie/Lily suffocate in the priest hole so quickly?
- On the Night of the Following, Edward says that he saw a light in the attic of the Birchwood Manor, but this is before Birdie/Lily is dead. As a ghost, Birdie/Lily talks about being captured light and everyone after her death who is at the Manor, such as Juliet and Leonard, see the light in the attic. So, who or what caused the light that Edward saw if it wasn't Birdie/Lily?
- We learn that Ada gave Tip the Radcliffe Blue when he was a child and he attaches it to a box that he gives to Elodie. However, when readers are first introduced to the box in Elodie's POV at the beginning of the story, the box's description does not mention any blue stone. I find that some sort of hint should have been given to match the style of writing for the rest of the story. Ada's drowning scene hints at the Radcliffe Blue, for example.
Another issue that will irk mystery lovers is that the items Lucy buries under the Japanese Maple are handed to Elodie and Jack; they don't find it themselves, which would have been much more rewarding and contributed to a satisfying ending. This grand reveal demonstrates that Elodie and Jack's presence weren't necessary because the storm would still have happened and the tree would still have fallen to reveal Birdie/Lily's grave.
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The Problem of Lucy
Lucy is about 12 years old in the summer of 1862 when all the chaos at the manor occurs. Despite her voracious appetite for knowledge, she is still a child and acts like one. While I appreciate Morton creating a likeable yet flawed character, Lucy is designed with contradictions.
When Lucy wakes up after her mysterious accident, it is understandable that she is confused and not sure what really happened to Birdie/Lily when the chaos happened. However, Morton writes that Lucy hates to be wrong because she looks foolish; just as when she discovered the existence of the priest holes, she went to go see if they were still in the house before telling Edward. For some reason, Lucy decides to not check the priest hole to see if Birdie/Lily is actually there when everyone returns to the manor for two weeks. Instead, she waits 20 years and only checks the priest hole once she inherits the manor. So, if she hadn't inherited it, she would never have even bothered to look?
Lucy's feelings towards Birdie/Lily seem to be a mix of liking her because she has things in common with her and she's nice, but at the same time, Lucy doesn't want to lose Edward, so to keep him even after he's beside himself with grief, Lucy decides to never check the priest hole. The situation is like Schrödinger's cat, I suppose.
It's the same thing when Lucy finds the Radcliffe Blue in her dress a year after Birdie/Lily's disappearance. She is still a child, so she feels embarrassed and doesn't want the ugly truth to get out because she feels responsible. She reasons that it would hurt Edward more, but is that her selfishness talking or does she really believe that? It would have given closure to everyone and maybe helped people to ask the right questions and find Birdie/Lily sooner. Lucy just didn't want to face the consequences, it would seem.
The Smell of Grief
Along with the many holes I found in the events of 1862, I couldn't understand how no one in the manor could smell a corpse decomposing in the priest hole during the two weeks in which they returned. One of my fellow book club members pointed out that the narrator indicates that "the rooms seem to take on the faint but foul odor of [Edward's] grief" (Chapter 27). Despite this answer, it still frustrates me.
Playing Catch Up
Much of the book presents a character and their story only for them to tell readers about things that happened off-page. One major example is when Lucy is preparing Birdie/Lily's bones. We are given a recap of Lucy doing research into Birdie's background. I know some people don't like any off-page scenes, and I don't mind having some, but this book had too many for my liking. Again, it made me feel like the story was rushed.
Name Confusion
When I write stories, I tried to give my characters different names, so readers can differentiate between each one and avoid confusion. During Lucy's chapters, I would often confuse the names Lucy and Lily since they're both four letters and start with 'L.'
I'm also not sure why Lucy's chapters, particularly the ones where it's that fateful summer of 1862, alternate between 'Lily' and 'Lily Millington.' If Lucy calls Birdie/Lily by her first name, why switch in the next sentence to her full name? I don't understand the point.
Another issue some of my book club friends and I had was with the mix up with Ada's name. Perhaps not everyone knows the historical figure Ada Lovelace, but those who do, like myself, continually read and called Ada Lovegrove by 'Ada Lovelace' because they're too similar.
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| Proserpine, 1882. Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash |
The Fate of Police Evidence
Since the beginning of the story, readers learn that Edward's last painting of Birdie/Lily, called The Fairy Queen, disappeared after the robbery and Fanny's murder. We discover at the end that the painting ended up in the family of one of the policemen who had been investigating the crimes. I've watched a lot of British mystery shows that take place in villages, so I can understand that the rules may not be upheld and the police decide to take home or discard evidence of cold cases, but it would have been nice to have this explained in the story.
Elodie and Jack
The mystery of Lily's death contains many issues that severely impacted my satisfaction for a good ending. Another factor that brought my satisfaction even lower was Elodie and Jack's story.
Firstly, Jack's character is often portrayed through Birdie/Lily's observation. His character is always held at a distance, so readers don't know what he's thinking or feeling. We were given much more about Elodie in the opening chapters. We learn about Jack's family issues, but there isn't any resolution with his wife and children.
Jack is a former police detective, but now seems to do contract work. He was hired by Ada's descendant, Rosalind Wheeler, to find a diamond that belonged to her grandmother. Jack seems to spend hours exploring the grounds of the manor and poring over the documents, yet he never thinks to look into the history of the place he's staying at or go into the museum. It just seems like a weak excuse for him to need Elodie. Unless the author wants us to attribute his broken marriage as an influence on his detective skills?
Elodie realizes that she doesn't love Alastair while she talks to Jack. But there is no confirmation that she breaks up with Alastair. It would have been satisfying to have a scene where she finally stands up for herself and we see Alastair and Penelope's reactions.
Elodie and Jack are at the manor because they are both looking for something. Elodie found the spot where her mother was in the photo and felt she understood her mother and herself better. Jack was looking for the Radcliffe Blue and when Elodie points out that there's something under the tree after it's fallen, she suggests that it's his treasure. With such a revelation, I expect them or one of them to be excited and to immediately dig up the contents and marvel at the discovery. But no. Both Elodie and Jack are nonchalant and decide to have breakfast before digging, making it sound like a chore. This reaction on both their parts is not realistic.
Both Elodie and Jack walk off into the forest later and that's it. We have no idea if they're going to get together or what happens to Alastair and Penelope or Sarah and the girls. We also never get to see if Elodie realizes that the father who raised her is not her biological father or how she will come to terms with that.
Birdie's Ending
Morton's books are usually beautifully tragic, but with the amount of issues I came across, I'm not sure I like the ending. Birdie says she doesn't want to be set free from the house. She says she will tell her story to other children who visit the manor, perhaps. But I'm wondering, with the discovery of her grave and Lucy's documents, Birdie's story will now be known and it should be included in the Birchwood Manor museum; there would be no need for her to pass the story on. With no one actually living in the manor anymore, there is not much for her to do, except wait for eternity and be part of the house. I guess when I came to the ending, my reaction to Birdie saying she is the house and will remain there was just, "Oh."
With her as a spirit of the house, we never learn if the Eldritch Children existed, although it seems she is happy to be their so-called Fairy Queen.
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| Photo by Yevhenii Foshchan on Unsplash |
Title Choice
I read this book with book club members and one of them asked about our opinion of the title. I hadn't thought of it because I'd been so wrapped up in the issues in the second half. While the cover art is lovely, it doesn't have much bearing on the story. A clock is presented to Birdie/Lily towards the end of the story and is mentioned once when Lucy inherits the house and sees the clock still there after so many years.
You may argue that the cover art matches the title. But the title is weak. As I mentioned above, readers are introduced to Elodie before Birdie/Lily. I don't find this makes sense if the book is named after Birdie/Lily. Additionally, the story is defining Birdie/Lily by being a "clockmaker's daughter." While this is true, this reference doesn't hold much important for the overall story. It describes her background, but Birdie/Lily is so much more because she is left with people who took her in at a young age. Her life is shaped by these people and her experiences. As one of the book club members pointed out, it gives the impression that this title was chosen to join in on the hype of recent years where books and movies are titled "The blank's Wife/Daughter" as a way to get people to buy and read it.
I, along with other book club members, felt that the book could be called Birchwood Manor, among other things. Morton has another book called The House at Riverton, so this new title would match well with her works.
Conclusion
I love Kate Morton's work, but this one was a hit and miss for me. The disappointment and frustration I felt at the reveal of what happened that summer of 1862 up to the end was so strong that I won't be keeping the book as I have for The Distant Hours and The Secret Keeper. But it hasn't scared me off from reading any of her other work. I currently have The House at Riverton on my TBR.
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