A grand mansion is about to change hands. The family which has owned it for generations can no longer afford the running and maintenance costs of this sprawling pile and has been forced to sell to a luxury hotel chain. Millions will be spent on its restoration, but what will be lost in the process?

Before the sale is complete, the reader is taken inside and walked through room by room. The seemingly inconsequential are brought into focus with each one bringing memories and family secrets to the fore: a stained carpet, a lock on a door, a thousand jam jars, all revealing something of dark and troubled lives.

It's a clever device, brilliantly executed. I very much enjoyed it. And it was great knowing something of the story behind the book, having heard the author speak in the bookshop.

Tomaski was inspired by her visit to a National Trust property, Tyntesfield near Bristol. It was acquired by the Trust in 2002 and she went there shortly afterwards, in its transition from a family home into a visitor attraction. The rooms were still full of relics and Tomaski used her own family background to infuse her imagined tale of the people who might have lived there.

The novel took 20 years to write and you can get a flavour of the author and her commitment to this story in the article she has written here. I loved this book and am longing to read it again!