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![The House by the Sea: The Top 5 bestselling, chilling, unforgettable book club read from Louise Douglas by [Louise Douglas]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51zPnxDDn8L._SY346_.jpg)
The House by the Sea: The Top 5 bestselling, chilling, unforgettable book club read from Louise Douglas Kindle Edition
Louise Douglas (Author) See search results for this author |
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*The Top 5 Bestseller*
The new chilling and captivating novel from the bestselling author of Richard & Judy pick The Secrets Between Us.
When Edie’s mother-in-law, Anna DeLuca, dies, she is relieved. Edie blames Anna for the accident that destroyed her family. So, when her will lures Edie to Sicily and the long-abandoned Villa della Madonna del Mare, she sees through Anna’s games.
Suspecting Anna is meddling from beyond the grave to try to reunite her and her ex-husband Joe, Edie is determined to leave Italy as soon as possible. But before she can, the villa starts to shed its mysterious secrets.
Who are the girls beside Anna in her childhood photos, and why has one of them been scratched out? Why does someone, or something, want them to leave the past untouched? The villa is a place where old ghosts feel at home, but does their legacy need to be laid to rest before Edie and Joe can move on…
Bestselling author Louise Douglas returns with a captivating, chilling and unforgettable tale of betrayal, jealousy and the mysteries hidden in every family history.
Praise for Louise Douglas
'Louise Douglas achieves the impossible and gets better with every book.' Milly Johnson
'A brilliantly written, gripping, clever, compelling story, that I struggled to put down. The vivid descriptions, the evocative plot and the intrigue that Louise created, which had me constantly asking questions, made it a highly enjoyable, absolute treasure of a read.' Kim Nash on The Scarlet Dress
'Another stunning read from the exceptionally talented Louise Douglas! I love the way in which Louise creates such an atmospheric mystery, building the intrigue and suspense brick by brick. Her writing is always beautiful and multi-layered, her characters warm and relatable and the intriguing nature of the mystery makes this unputdownable.’ Nicola Cornick on The Scarlet Dress
'A tender, heart-breaking, page-turning read'Rachel Hore on The House by the Sea
'The perfect combination of page-turning thriller and deeply emotional family story. Superb’ Nicola Cornick on The House by the Sea
‘Kept me guessing until the last few pages and the explosive ending took my breath away.' C.L. Taylor, author of The Accident on Your Beautiful Lies
‘Beautifully written, chillingly atmospheric and utterly compelling, The Secret by the Lake is Louise Douglas at her brilliant best’ Tammy Cohen, author of The Broken
‘A master of her craft, Louise Douglas ratchets up the tension in this haunting and exquisitely written tale of buried secrets and past tragedy.’ Amanda Jennings, author of Sworn Secret
‘A clammy, atmospheric and suspenseful novel, it builds in tension all the way through to the startling final pages.’ Sunday Express, S Magazine
'A chilling, unputdownable new novel from the bestselling author of The House By The Sea.
'A brilliantly written, gripping, clever, compelling story, that I struggled to put down.'
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherBoldwood Books
- Publication date13 Feb. 2020
- File size4226 KB
From the Publisher

Hello and thank you for looking at this book.
My books are usually described as contemporary Gothic stories, most often with some dark romance or a psychological element.
I love to write about love, not only in the romantic sense. I also enjoy writing about animals, nature and the countryside, feeling deeply connected.
But it’s people and the secrets they keep that truly fascinate me. It’s the things we don’t say that reveal the most about us; the walls we build and the masks we wear to make ourselves appear strong, when the truth is, we’re trying to protect our vulnerable hearts.
If you enjoy a compelling, emotional storyline, and like reading about flawed characters who confuse what they want, with what they need; if you like travelling with characters towards a resolution, if you believe good people deserve to find happiness, you might enjoy this book.
Thank you again. I very much appreciate you looking at my book and wish you all the best.
Louise x


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The House By The Sea | The Scarlet Dress | The Room in the Attic | The Lost Notebook | |
Ebook | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Audiobook | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Paperback | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Product description
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B081DN5TZW
- Publisher : Boldwood Books (13 Feb. 2020)
- Language : English
- File size : 4226 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 342 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 1,968 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 6 in Italian Travel
- 11 in Contemporary Horror
- 12 in Ghost Horror
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Hello and thank you for visiting my author page. I'm Louise, I live in Somerset in South West England & I write contemporary Gothic mysteries mostly set in the countryside close to where I live. Thrilled to have won the RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller award 2021 for The House by the Sea.
When I'm not writing, I love to spend time with my family, friends, kind & funny people and animals - especially dogs, birds and whales. I'm passionate about nature, being outside, drawing wildlife, walking, beaches, fictional drama and books.
I really hope you enjoy my books. If you'd like to connect, find me on Facebook Louise Amy Douglas or @LouiseDouglas3 on Twitter. Thank you x
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 18 October 2020
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In her thanks at the end of the book, what a pity there was no mention of an editor to thank: one might have made a big difference. Every few pages there are references to how she can feel the presence of her dead child “I felt him nearby”, “for a fraction of a second Daniel was there staring at me wide-eyed” “I was imagining Daniel sitting on my lap” “I was tucking Daniel into bed” “I felt a little tug, Daniel reminding me he was present”. Before long you want to scream. But there are also very many announcements of the feeling she is being watched, and of the the ghosts in the house “I swear I could feel Joe’s ancestors moving around me..”
The hints given almost from the beginning of the book that she and her ex-husband will be back together soon are not just obvious, they weigh tonnes.
An editor might also have reminded her that you do not lay on a bed (unless you have some strange egg-laying talent), you lie on it. Yesterday you lay on it, today you lie on it. It’s also not explained how the villain of the piece has so much ready money she could immediately buy the house outright, although she lives in a squalid slum.
One person who is thanked is the illustrator who designed the beautiful cover”; the cover displays a 3-storey house although the text plainly describes it as a 2-storey building (that there is a cellar only transpires later and as its existence is a surprise to the writer, it cannot have been visible from outside).
I suggest getting an editor in future; this might help the author avoid maddening repetition of dead-son/ex-husband tropes and poor grammar.
The reader has to like the characters and want the best for them, but after about the twelfth page I really couldn't care about any of them.
I was determined to give it my best shot, though, and finish it, but when I came to this " Joe and I were so close I couldn't tell where I ended and where he began" I gave up totally. Words fail me, so did this book. This was the first one I've read by this author and will be certainly the last.
When Anna DeLuca dies, she leaves her beautiful home by the sea in Sicily to her son, Joe and his ex wife, Edie.
Edie blames her ex mother in law for an accident 10 years before. A tragedy which tore apart Edie and Joe’s marriage. Leaving the abandoned yet beautiful Villa Della Madonna del Mare to the ex couple, Edie sees it as nothing more than yet another attempt on Anna’s part, to meddle in their relationship from beyond the grave.
Edie is determined to sell the villa and leave the island as soon as possible, but as the ghosts of the past reveal themselves and mysteries are awakened, Edie discovers there is much more to tie her to the house, the island and her newly found friends.
This is a beautiful book and a wonderful escape. Lovely descriptions of the house and surrounding area really transport you to Sicily and the sunshine. I really enjoyed this book. Plenty of twists and turns involved with a handful of creepy and heart stopping moments thrown in.