The House of Lost Whispers - Jenni Keer - ★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Jenni Keer

GENRE: Historical Fiction

PUBLICATION DATE: April 27, 2025.

RATING: 3.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A historical fiction with mild shades of romance, mystery, and magical realism. Interesting plot spanning multiple genres, good characters though a tad beyond the era in terms of thinking, a slow-but-steady pace, and disappointing romance. The blurb makes it sound like a timeslip story; it’s not. I would have liked some actual timeslip, but once I readjusted my expectations, my experience improved.

Plot Preview:

When the ill-fated Titanic sinks in 1912, the slightly-spoiled and highly-imaginative thirteen-year-old orphan Olivia Davenport is sent to love with her wealthy godparents, the Fairchilds, at Merriford Manor. Life at Merriford is very different from what Olivia is accustomed to. Though there are more people here, there is much less physical demonstration of love. Olivia feels quite lonely and relies on her imagination to get through the days. But when she hears a voice from beyond the wall of her tower bedroom, she isn't sure if her imagination has turned too wild, or if there is actually a young man called Seth on the other side of her room? Soon it becomes clear that Seth does exist, but in a world slightly different from Olivia’s, a world where the Titanic never sank and her parents are still alive.

The story comes to us mostly in Olivia’s third-person perspective.

PSA: The blurb is highly misleading. It focusses mainly on the timeslip aspect, but the actual book is more of a general historical fiction. Better to go into it with the right expectations, else you will be disappointed.

Bookish Yays:

🏰 The imaginative premise. Though I am not a hundred per cent happy with the execution, I cannot deny the creativity of this concept, especially in historical fiction.

🏰 Olivia’s personality – great for a fictional lead. Her melodramatic nature and wild imagination is clear right from her childhood, so she makes for an entertaining character at times.

🏰 The way the book focusses on the transition in Olivia’s life, going from being an only child in a modest house with loving parents to one of many children in a huge mansion with reserved adults. Few novels handle the contrast in living circumstances so well. I especially love the depiction of Olivia’s reaction to her new circumstances.

🏰 The first section of the book, which comes from ‘Before the War’. Easily my favourite as it fulfilled most of the potential.

🏰 Even though there’s some magical realism, the overall vibe is very grounded and believable.

🏰 Merriford Manor, with its gardens and towers, is the perfect location for such a story.

🏰 The writing is easy yet immersive. The pacing is mostly steady.

🏰 The historical inserts make the plot more convincing. Many historical events such as the suffragette movement, labour disputes and unrest, the sinking of the Titanic, the Great War and its aftermath make an appearance in the book without making it seem cluttered.

🏰 The emotional themes, whether grief from loss of parents or partners, PTSD after war, and the anger and frustration at lost opportunities, all come across well.

Bookish Mixed Bags:

🚢 The initial interaction between Olivia and Seth begins when they are thirteen and nineteen respectively. While the later chapters make it clear why Olivia had to be so young at the start, it still feels a little odd to see a teen interact with a young man that way.

🚢 The three sections of the book – Before, During, and After the war – are distinct in tone as well as genre. The first section is more of general historical fiction with a minor glimpse of the magical realism. The second section is more like war fiction, with much trauma, loss and grief. The final section has the most romance as well as a strong thread of mystery. The magical realism is the most in this section, but because of the way the content is written, it barely feels magical. While each of the three sections are interesting on their own merit, the overall effect of the novel is a bit jumpy thanks to the change in genres.

🚢 The way of explaining the duplicate earth where Seth lived was quite creative. Not scientific, but great fiction that needs to be accepted at face value. However, with so much potential there, I was disappointed not to know much more about that world.

🚢 While the blurb makes the book feel like the timeslip and the “other world” is the centre of attention, the actual plot is not that fantastical. The focus is more on Olivia’s life and the historical events affecting it, with the fantastical part being sidelined for much of the journey. If you read this mainly as a timeslip, you will be disappointed. The actual content isn't bad, but the misrepresentation in the blurb leads to incorrect expectations. Moreover, the actual reveal of the timeslip doesn’t come until a long way into the book.

🚢 The Fairchilds make for interesting characters. While we don’t get to know all of them well, we do get to see enough of their personality to understand their behaviour and their motivations. Lady Fairchild was probably the best sketched of the lot. I wish some of them had more page space.

🚢 The climax of this story was almost perfect for me, and I was going to list it in my Yays. But the final two chapters turned my delight into mere contentment. The ending was much braver without those chapters. Then again, I understand how avid fans of the women’s fiction kind of genre would be more pleased with the current ending.

Bookish Nays:

💥 The romance(s). I can't reveal anything about the romance without spoilers. So I'll just say that I rolled my eyes at many of the scenes as they just didn’t match the era. Also, does everyone have to fall in love with Olivia? It got repetitive after a point.

💥 Some part of Olivia’s behaviour doesn’t sound age-appropriate, or even era-appropriate. Her thinking often seems too modern.

💥 I never understood why Olivia didn’t want to know more about or to interact with her parents who were still alive in the other world. Her only concern seemed to be her love life and the potential partners – quite odd.

All in all, while this novel began with a bang for me, it ended up as a slightly mixed experience. The first section was amazing. The second section was quite good though a bit repetitive. However, the third section turned out to be a truly mixed experience. The romance, the mystery, the decisions of the lead characters, and the end result of the plot, each had highs and lows.

This is my third book by this author, after ‘No. 23 Burlington Square’ and ‘The Ravenswood Witch’. While I liked all three books, I think this one had the most potential in terms of imagination. However, the lack of cohesiveness across the three sections and the romance turned this one into a good one-time read instead of a memorable one.

Recommended to those who enjoy historical fiction and war dramas with a healthy sprinkling of romance. Not for those looking for a timeslip story.

My thanks to Boldwood Books for providing the DRC of “The House of Lost Whispers” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.