The Stargazers is a sweeping epic of a story with an uncomfortable and disturbing dark thread of cruelty that, for me, felt a bit different from Harriet Evans' previous works. Set mainly in two very distinctive timelines, the 1950s and the 1970s, with added sections from the 1920s and 2020, this is a story of family and whether home is a place in which you live or whether it's a person and no matter where you live, as long as you're with them you're home.

Sarah is the main character. In the 1970s she's moved into a new house with her husband, Daniel. It's a chance to put her terrible childhood at Fane Hall behind her. Her mother, Iris, is a nasty and unkind person, with no redeeming features, who treated Sarah and her sister Victoria, abysmally. With Daniel and her beloved cello, Sarah hopes to move on into a brighter future. Fane Hall is always there in the background though, a crumbling stately hall which, like many after the wars, fell into disrepair. The 1950s sections give us an insight into Sarah's childhood spent partly at Fane and it's impossible to feel anything but horror at her upbringing.

I had some mixed feelings about this book. I felt at times that it didn't fully reel me in and despite everything the characters go through I didn't really take to any of them and feel the empathy and care for them I might have expected to feel, and yet at other times I was so heavily invested that I couldn't tear my eyes away from the page. It's absolutely beautifully written and I found myself thinking about it when I wasn't reading it and I think it's a book that will stay with me. It's an all-encompassing sort of read. I don't know if I was being a bit dense but there are three moments that caused an eye-widening reaction where I was really surprised by a twist in the tale and Evans did an amazing job at dropping them in at just the right time.

The Stargazers is heart-wrenching and shocking, a family story with a dark edge, a mesmerising but broken setting in Fane Hall, and a childhood that has consequences that will last the whole of Sarah's life. A fascinating, rich and unforgettable read in many ways. ( )