There are times when, as a reader, all you want is to be swept up into a book – to sink into it and lose yourself in it until, finally, reluctantly, there are no more words to read. That’s what makes Harriet Evans’ multi-generational family dramas so addictive: her unerring ability to captivate her reader and draw them into the world of each family whose story is unfolding. A Harriet Evans book is like being a visitor to a fascinating family home, privileged to have inside information as the secrets and dramas of its inhabitants are gradually revealed. ‘I want to write about a family that lives in a house over a period of time and I get the house and get the family but it changes,’ says Harriet. ‘I always start with an idea and I always try and map it out but it always changes.’
Her latest novel is a book about what home really means to its characters that this reader fell into and resented any attempt at being dragged out of. The family residence in question is Fane, a decaying stately home that provides a backdrop for the dramas that play out in the lives of the two lead characters, musician Sarah, struggling as she sets up home
