The Manor of Dreams

This took me a little while to get into (mostly because at the beginning of the story, I kept confusing characters!). Vivian Yin is dead. She was the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar and a trailblazer in the eighties. But at the height of her career, she disappeared from the spotlight. Her daughters (and granddaughter) Lucille, Rennie, and Madeline expect to inherit the family mansion. At the reading of the will, they are taken aback when the home is left to another family: Elaine and her daughter, Nora. Lucille, Rennie, and Madeline move into the house, convinced that something sinister is at stake. What did Elaine do to get Vivian to change her will? Over the week (as the five women live in the home together), the complicated history between the two families is revealed. Lucille and Rennie race to figure out what happened during the last weeks of their mother’s life. Told in dual timelines (present day and Vivian’s in the eighties), we learn the painful truth behind the house’s origins and the last tragic summer they spent there. There’s a bit of a supernatural element (ghosts!) and it gets very dark, but I couldn’t put it down.