THE HOUSE AT THE END OF HOPE STREET (MEENA VAN PRAAG)

Story Description:

Pamela Dorman Books|April 9, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-670-78463-9

A magical debut novel about an enchanted house that offers refuge to women in their time of need. 

Distraught that her academic career has stalled, Alba is walking through her hometown of Cambridge, England, when she finds herself in front of a house she’s never seen before, 11 Hope Street.  A beautiful older woman named Peggy greets her and invites her to stay, on the house’s usual conditions: she has ninety-nine nights to turn her life around.  With nothing left to lose, Alba takes a chance and moves in. 

She soon discovers that this is no ordinary house.  Past residents have included Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Parker, who, after receiving the assistance they needed, hung around to help newcomers literally, in talking portraits on the wall.  As she escapes into this new world, Alba begins a journey that will heal her wounds and maybe even save her life. 

Filled with colourful and unforgettable cast of literary figures, The House at the End of Hope Street is a charming, whimsical novel of hope and feminine wisdom that is sure to appeal to fans of Jasper Fforde and especially Sarah Addison Allen. 

My Review:

A magical book, an enchanted house, a cast of characters who previously lived there but remain on the walls in photographs to be talked to whenever the desire strikes you.  Florence Nightingale, Agatha Christie and Sylvia Plath to name a few.  This whimsical house lives and breathes, the walls moving in and out like a heartbeat, the lampshades bowing to get a closer look at you.  The mysterious and magical 82-year-old Peggy who runs 11 Hope Street is a kind and wise woman. 

Fans of Sarah Addison Allen will love this novel.  I put it in the same category as Allen’s novel and the book Night Circus.  A beautifully written, happy, magical story that is a very rare treat!  A book you won’t want to see end.  Alba, Carmen, Greer, Stella and Peggy are characters I won’t soon forget.   They are all there for different reasons and the house knows exactly what each woman needs.   

I lived at 11 Hope Street from the time I read the first chapter.  I couldn’t have forced myself to leave even if I had wanted to.  I loved the happiness, the love, the caring and the warmth the house enveloped me in.  The house knows what you need.  You may think you need one thing but the house won’t give it to you unless you really do need it.  It’s the house that decides and does and provides you with what you truly and sincerely need in your life. 

I will be keeping this as part of my permanent collection and am going to read it again before I  put it away on my shelf for a while, that’s how much I enjoyed this book and I know you will too.  I highly, highly recommend this book for everyone.  If I could rate it at a one thousand, I would!  For a debut novel, this is an unbelievable story, a story you’ll absolutely fall in love with.