The House at Old Vine

My husband's grandmother gave this book to me and I hesitated to read it. But when I did, I was drawn into the house. Starting with the second book of the series rather than the first actually made me into one of the characters of the book because I was new to the house. The house knew secrets that I thought would somehow be revealed to the occupants over time, but the house was silent. Each generation lived, echoing the generations before but never knowing the root of all they did. The story goes on just as life. A person is born. And the end of their story is that they die. And the world goes on. Each chapter is the story of an individual who comes to the house and becomes a part of its history, told in the first person. You love some characters and you hate others. And the house sees all and is silent. The end of the book you find, is just the end of another life. And you realize that the world continues and other stories will go onward. Reading The Town House, you realize that the stories in The House at Old Vine are going full circle in this tragic and comic thing we call life. Justice is not always found. Secrets are not always told. And the world lives with those results. You'll feel a part of these people's lives and realize that, even centuries ago, humans are just as human as you and I. And humans will go onward. My offspring will have offspring who will have offspring and my life will be forgotten, but the consequences of my life will likely follow themselves to the next generation.