The House on the Strand

By Daphne du Maurier,

Book cover of The House on the Strand

Book description

In this haunting tale, Daphne du Maurier takes a fresh approach to time travel. A secret experimental concoction, once imbibed, allows you to return to the fourteenth century. There is only one catch: if you happen to touch anyone while traveling in the past you will be thrust instantaneously to…

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Why read it?

5 authors picked The House on the Strand as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I absolutely love Daphne du Maurier's writing and I had actually read The House on the Strand on Kindle a couple of years ago. The version of the audiobook on Audible was abridged so I wasn't really sure about trying it - well, this year, I did and I could not stop listening to it! The story is a really great idea, with a scientist inventing an elixir that allows people to travel back to a certain period in medieval history - not their physical body, but they can see and hear everything that's going on. You then have the…

This was a really unusual story. The way du Maurier writes draws you in to the characters and the situation. The historical parts are well grounded and you feel as if you are there in the past too. I have read several of her works and so far they have all be different but very well written. They are all stories that stay with you, long after you have finished them and this was no exception. I did find the ending a little ambiguous and searched on the internet about it - I found an interview with her in which…

I fell in love with this author’s exploration into the hypothesis of drug-induced time travel written by one of our great English authors, skillfully weaving psychology with science and historical fiction. In it, Dick Young is persuaded by a friend to try a new drug. Dick likes where it takes him, and each time takes more and more. A classic case of addition but the story awakened in me a passion for asking what if… that later turned into a greater passion for the unexplained and paranormal in all its forms, in turn leading me to question whether re-incarnation, deja-vu,…

A Voracious Grief

By Lindsey Lamh,

Book cover of A Voracious Grief

Lindsey Lamh Author Of A Voracious Grief

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Old book omnivore Author of dark tales Mom to 6 Ordinary saint Intuitive introvert

Lindsey's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

My book is fantastical historical fiction about two characters who're wrestling with the monstrosity of their grief.

It takes you into London high society, where Ambrose tries to forget about how much he misses Bennett and how much he dreads becoming as cold as their Grandfather. It takes you to the family's country manor house, where Mattie isolates and old ghosts start to come out of the woodwork.

It's a story about loss and depression; it's a story about friends who don't let you walk through the valley of death alone. 

A Voracious Grief

By Lindsey Lamh,

What is this book about?

Ambrose Bancroft returns to London society with his younger sister, hoping they'll leave ghosts of memory behind. They have only each other left. While Ambrose attempts to draw Mattie out, dragging her to balls and threatening to seek suitors for her, his sister recoils from his meddling. Finally, when Ambrose compels her to attend art class before she's ready, Mattie paints something horrific enough to banish them from society in public disgrace.

At Linwood Manor, Mattie and Ambrose aren't as alone as they think. Taking advantage of Mattie's desperate need to find freedom, a vanishing room lures Ambrose's sister into…


As a teenager, I glutted on the novels of Daphne du Maurier, and revelled in their Gothic thrills and the hints of darker compulsions and ambiguity which I did not fully comprehend. On re-reading a few not so long ago, I discovered that Rebecca was toppled from my personal number one spot by The House on the Strand. A time-travel story written long before it was voguish, it manages to achieve the delicate balance between the traditional, (albeit far-fetched) romantic love story and the more troubling question about perception and identity. This is not a peaceful novel as it…

I love the idea of time travel – if it’s backwards. I have no desire to see what things might be, only I’m constantly fascinated wondering how things were. When I visit an historic house full of antique furniture and ancient portraits hanging on the walls, weird objects whose use is now forgotten, I long to know what it was like to live there. The House on the Strand transported me into the distant past of medieval England in such a way that I was living the experience, just like the time traveller himself.  

There are numerous…

From Rebecca's list on mysterious time travel.

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