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mamahennessy's review against another edition
1.0
So much talking
I’ve never read so much pointless rambling in my life. And for what? The story went nowhere and then just ended. And if you’re triggered by child and animal deaths, you really want to skip this one. I wish I had.
I’ve never read so much pointless rambling in my life. And for what? The story went nowhere and then just ended. And if you’re triggered by child and animal deaths, you really want to skip this one. I wish I had.
kelbi's review against another edition
5.0
This is a superb book, interweaving past and present in a totally believable. Way. Do not read this book if you have small children though. It will break your heart. I want to read more of hers now. I listened on Audible and it could not have been better read
rochelleisreading's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
ashlyc's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not really sure I liked this book. I didn't really dislike it, but I'm not sure I really liked it either. It's an odd book, and I was left with the feeling that I missed something. You're constantly going back and forth between two stories, 150 years apart from each other, but still intertwined. I don't understand how the two fit together, WHY they fit together, and I think that's the reason that I can't quite get a handle on how I feel about this one.
lhaugen15's review
3.0
Kept me engaged for pretty much the most book but ended up not coming together. Just stops abruptly.
amberlyswords's review against another edition
2.0
This book was okay but it was boring. The paced of plot was slow for my liking and the plot needed to be flash out. The cover of book was okay and the main chracters were well flash out more.
hope_'s review
5.0
Amazing story. Worded perfectly. Story's fit together like puzzle pieces. I loved the book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 stars
kime's review against another edition
5.0
This is such a wonderfully written book. It's so atmospheric and I really felt like I had been transported back into the lives of the characters, especially Eliza and her family. The books tends to move alone at a normal pace and then suddenly it pops with small snippets of creepiness. Sometimes I had to stop and read a paragraph again as something so strange would happen or be said and I'd need to double check that I had understood it correctly. This is a book about love, loss, sexual awakening and the true nature of evil. It has all of these things rolled into one. And of course, some very strange yet vivid characters. And although the ending did leave some questions unanswered, this will go down as one of my favourite books of the year so far.
fictionophile's review
5.0
Time has long been a concept that has proven mysterious to many - myself included. The way it seems to 'go fast' or 'slow down' when in fact the minutes and seconds remain the same... Einstein concluded in his later years that the past, present, and future all exist simultaneously. Perhaps Julie Myerson was reading Einstein when she came up with the premise for this outstanding novel.
Mary and Graham Coles move from London to an old farm cottage in Suffolk. They are 'starting over' after a horrific tragedy has decimated their family. As the title suggests, Mary said her 'heart stopped' when it happened and she has spent her days since numbed by grief. Theirs is an unthinkable life. Tiptoeing around each other for fear that wounds barely closed will open up again. Their life is a limbo of sorts. Existing - because that is what you do when living is just too hard...
As is the style of many novels with stories set in two time periods, "The Stopped Heart" has two narratives - one in the present with Mary and Graham Coles - and one over 150 years ago with a farm family who once lived in Mary's and Graham's house. The thing that irked me and probably other readers as well, is that when reading this novel there was NO warning when the narrative switched from one story to another. I mean NO warning - not even a wider space between paragraphs. I found this extremely disconcerting - until I realized that the author most likely did this on purpose to convey the fact that time in all of its mystery is perhaps as Einstein suggested. It is happening simultaneously.
Mary Coles is a conduit between the present and the past. She can 'see' the children who lived in her house over a century and a half before. But no, this is not really a ghost story. The reason? Well, Lottie, the four year old of that long ago family, can 'see' Mary in the future as well. Confused? Well read this marvelous book for yourself.
The family suffered many hardships common to their time. Hard, back-breaking work, too little money, too many children. One child followed another before the last baby was even weaned. When a storm fells a massive tree in the back garden, a stranger is pinned beneath it. He is not dead as the family first surmised, but only injured. He stays with the family and helps them work the farm. But James Dix is not as he seems to the casual observer. The depths of his depravity show themselves over the chapters of the book. As evil and vile a villain as you are ever likely to read of...
The eldest daughter, Eliza, is wary of this red-headed stranger who introduces her to knowledge that no thirteen year old should know. He is a womanizer, a charmer, but so very much more.
The weary mother and the eight children are heartrendingly captured by Julie Myerson's words. I knew and loved them all.
Meanwhile, back in the present, Mary and Graham have befriended a childless couple who live nearby. Then, the husband of the couple, Eddie, seems to want more from Mary than she is prepared to give. And all the while, she is hearing children's chatter and seeing a red-haired man walking in the garden.
This novel is beautifully written. The characters leap off the page with their clarity. The description and events are so realistically rendered that I felt I WAS there. It was an expose on the devastation of grief as well as a chilling portrayal of obsession. I've read some reviews that said the ending let the story down. I disagree. In my mind it couldn't have ended any other way. A chillingly dark, atmospheric, historical suspense thriller, which I will recommend to all who don't mind a dash of paranormal. Definitely one of my favorites this year so far...
Thanks so much to Harper Perennial via Edelweiss for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel for review purposes.
This review was originally published on the blog: Fictionophile
Mary and Graham Coles move from London to an old farm cottage in Suffolk. They are 'starting over' after a horrific tragedy has decimated their family. As the title suggests, Mary said her 'heart stopped' when it happened and she has spent her days since numbed by grief. Theirs is an unthinkable life. Tiptoeing around each other for fear that wounds barely closed will open up again. Their life is a limbo of sorts. Existing - because that is what you do when living is just too hard...
As is the style of many novels with stories set in two time periods, "The Stopped Heart" has two narratives - one in the present with Mary and Graham Coles - and one over 150 years ago with a farm family who once lived in Mary's and Graham's house. The thing that irked me and probably other readers as well, is that when reading this novel there was NO warning when the narrative switched from one story to another. I mean NO warning - not even a wider space between paragraphs. I found this extremely disconcerting - until I realized that the author most likely did this on purpose to convey the fact that time in all of its mystery is perhaps as Einstein suggested. It is happening simultaneously.
Mary Coles is a conduit between the present and the past. She can 'see' the children who lived in her house over a century and a half before. But no, this is not really a ghost story. The reason? Well, Lottie, the four year old of that long ago family, can 'see' Mary in the future as well. Confused? Well read this marvelous book for yourself.
The family suffered many hardships common to their time. Hard, back-breaking work, too little money, too many children. One child followed another before the last baby was even weaned. When a storm fells a massive tree in the back garden, a stranger is pinned beneath it. He is not dead as the family first surmised, but only injured. He stays with the family and helps them work the farm. But James Dix is not as he seems to the casual observer. The depths of his depravity show themselves over the chapters of the book. As evil and vile a villain as you are ever likely to read of...
The eldest daughter, Eliza, is wary of this red-headed stranger who introduces her to knowledge that no thirteen year old should know. He is a womanizer, a charmer, but so very much more.
The weary mother and the eight children are heartrendingly captured by Julie Myerson's words. I knew and loved them all.
Meanwhile, back in the present, Mary and Graham have befriended a childless couple who live nearby. Then, the husband of the couple, Eddie, seems to want more from Mary than she is prepared to give. And all the while, she is hearing children's chatter and seeing a red-haired man walking in the garden.
This novel is beautifully written. The characters leap off the page with their clarity. The description and events are so realistically rendered that I felt I WAS there. It was an expose on the devastation of grief as well as a chilling portrayal of obsession. I've read some reviews that said the ending let the story down. I disagree. In my mind it couldn't have ended any other way. A chillingly dark, atmospheric, historical suspense thriller, which I will recommend to all who don't mind a dash of paranormal. Definitely one of my favorites this year so far...
Thanks so much to Harper Perennial via Edelweiss for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel for review purposes.
This review was originally published on the blog: Fictionophile
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