The Wind Chime is an enchanting dual-timeline story by Alexandra Walsh, set in 1880s Wales and current-day England.
Title: The Wind Chime
Author: Alexandra Walsh
Series: Time Shift Victorian Mysteries #1
First Published: June 29, 2021
Publisher: Sapere Books
Genres: Historical Fiction
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Sapere Books, for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Windsor, England, 2019
Amelia Prentice is recovering from the worst two years of her life. First her daughter and then her parents have died, leaving her without any surviving relatives. As she contemplates placing the family home, a vast Victorian house in Windsor, on the market, she fulfills her mother’s last request to clear out the attic, where she discovers a strange box of Victorian photographs.
The photographs are of a large estate in Pembrokeshire called Cliffside, and they feature the Attwater family. When Amelia uncovers the diaries of Osyth Attwater, she realises the family had tragedies of their own…
Pembrokeshire, Wales, 1883
Every summer the Attwater family gather at Cliffside to tell each other stories. The youngest in the house is Osyth, a dreamer and writer who waits eagerly every year for the wind chime in the garden to signal the arrival of her relatives.
But her happiness is shattered when she overhears a conversation that tears her world apart. Raised by her grandparents, she believed her mother, Eudora, had died. It seems this may not be the case. Desperate to find out the truth, Osyth decides to unravel her family’s secrets. What she discovers will shock her to her core…
What did Amelia’s mother want her to find out about the Attwater family? Who is Eudora, and what really happened to her?
And how is Amelia connected to it all…?
A beautiful time-shift story
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m not a fan of dual timeline stories. UNLESS they’re written by Alexandra Walsh. There’s something so beautiful and lyrical about her stories that I get drawn into them and almost forget that I’m reading in two timelines (although I have been known to read certain chapters in a row so that I stay in one timeline instead of jumping back and forth).
I decided to give this story ago because Walsh’s The Marquess Saga books are among my favourites and the cover of The Wind Chime just drew me in.
As already stated, this is a dual-timeline story, running between 1883 Wales and 2019 England. It’s a sweeping family saga that has a bit of an ‘epic’ feel to it. While I have it listed in the ‘Historical Fiction” genre in my snapshot above, it also has heavy mystery elements to it.
The story revolves around the Attwater and Stone families and all their secrets, relationships, scandals and history of madness. I did find it a bit overwhelming as there are A LOT of characters and it was hard to keep track of them all. I ended up taking notes to keep track and that really helped.
Amelia and Osyth and a cast of thousands
Ok, so it’s not really a ‘cast of thousands’, but there quite a few personalities in the book.
The two main characters, Amelia in the present day and Osyth in the past, are both interesting and complex and are trying their best to unravel long-buried family secrets to discover the truth.
Since this book isn’t about any famous historical figures or set in a time period/location that I’m familiar with, I was a bit wary about not being able to keep track of things. One of the hardest things (for me) while reading dual timeline stories is keeping track of all the people and the setting. Walsh is pretty deft at keeping the narrative flowing, while jumping between two very different eras.
Regardless of the amount of time separating the two main characters, there are things that link them (aside from family secrets). Similar themes link the two timelines, including mental health, happiness and grief, the importance of family and friends, and how families are a mix of very different relationships.
Aside from Amelia and Osyth, the family is filled with interesting characters that all have their own secrets and stories. At times I was a bit overwhelmed, but the strength of the plot and the beauty of the setting kept me in the story.
Interwoven throughout the story is an underlying feel of magic and a bit of fantasy, fairy magic. It gave the story a light, airy feel and I loved the image of the wind chime “announcing” the gathering of the family and the sharing of stories.
There are lots of twists and turns throughout the plot and for me, one of the most pleasant surprises was that neither of the timelines held my interest more than the other – they were both captivating and I couldn’t wait to get to the end to see how things turned out.
Read The Wind Chime for yourself
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