Book Review: The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

3/5

TLDR: Kate Morton is my favorite author, and the other three books I've read by her were all five stars for me. I enjoyed The Clockmaker's Daughter overall because it still contained Morton's superb writing style (beautiful, well-crafted imagery and amazing narrative writing that stays with me long after I've read it), however, I have to give it just three stars because the plot, pacing, and layout were so confusing and a bit weak. I really didn't understand how everything pieced together until the end, but it wasn't dramatic or meaningful enough to me to justify being confused the whole book and trying to keep track of what year I was in and who was who in the story. There were also a lot of storylines that felt incomplete - a lot of loose threads.

Besides enjoying the imagery and narrative, I also really loved the main character/narrator, and I thought the themes that Morton explored in the book were really interesting and unique. The focus on home, the bravery and resilience of children, and nature and the natural world were all unique themes that I enjoyed reading about. And Birchwood Manor made a beautiful, intricate setting.

For my more detailed review, keep scrolling!

The characters themselves were all great, and I think that's part of the problem. Just as I would get invested in a new character that's been introduced, their story would end and the book would jump back to either Birdie, a totally new character and timeline, or Elodie. Speaking of Elodie, her storyline was by far the least interesting to me. It would have been okay had I gotten a more resolute and satisfying resolution to her story, but it just kind of hangs with no real answers or what comes next. I can make an educated guess, but there are some resolutions and decisions that would have been nice to see her make.

I loved Birdie as a character and narrator, although her story ultimately left me feeling really sad. Which is fine, I don't think books need to have happy endings or to even make us feel good, but what happens to her after everything she's been through just seems cruel. I see what Morton was trying to do with her story and afterlife - Birdie becomes the protector she never had as a child to help others that come to Birchwood, but her story still felt unnecessarily tragic to me.

All of part one was really hard to get into, which is unfortunate because that was a large chunk of the book to push through. I think the biggest issue with this book is that there are too many characters and timelines. I think this book would've been a million times better if it had focused on just Birdie, Lucy, and Juliet and the characters that are closely tied to them (i.e., Tip, Red, and Beatrice would still be in the book because they're Juliet's children. Even Ada could have still made a minor appearance because of her relationship with Lucy.)

Even if you look online, the general consensus among Kate Morton fans seems to be that The Clockmaker's Daughter is last when ranking her books. This one was just a bit too complex, and not in a good way, because of the many timelines and characters. Like I said though, Kate Morton is my favorite author, so I will absolutely read her other books and very much look forward to them!