AustLit logo
person or book cover
Image courtesy of Allen & Unwin
y separately published work icon The Distant Hours single work   novel   mystery  
Issue Details: First known date: 2010... 2010 The Distant Hours
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Edie Burchill and her mother have never been close, but when a long-lost letter arrives one Sunday afternoon with the return address of Milderhurst Castle, Kent, printed on its envelope, Edie begins to suspect that her mother's emotional distance masks an old secret. Evacuated from London as a thirteen-year-old girl, Edie's mother is chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe, and taken to live at Milderhurst Castle with the Blythe family: Juniper, her twin sisters and their father, Raymond, author of the 1918 children's classic The True History of the Mud Man. In the grand and glorious Milderhurst Castle, a new world opens up for Edie's mother. She discovers the joys of books and fantasy and writing, but also, ultimately, the dangers.

Fifty years later, as Edie chases the answers to her mother's riddle, she, too, is drawn to Milderhurst Castle and the eccentric Sisters Blythe. Old ladies now, the three still live together, the twins nursing Juniper, whose abandonment by her fiance in 1941 plunged her into madness. Inside the decaying castle, Edie begins to unravel her mother's past. But there are other secrets hidden in the stones of Milderhurst Castle, and Edie is about to learn more than she expected. The truth of what happened in the distant hours has been waiting a long time for someone to find it.' Source: www.allenandunwin.com/ (Sighted 03/11/2010).

Notes

  • Dedication: For Kim Wilkins, who encouraged me to start; and Davin Patterson, who was with me to the last full stop.
  • Epigraph for this work is the Prologue of Raymond Blythe's The True History of the Mud Man.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2010 .
      person or book cover
      Image courtesy of Allen & Unwin
      Extent: 500p.
      ISBN: 9781742371832 (hbk.)
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Atria Books ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 5234784352137230677.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 562p.
      ISBN: 9781439152782 (alk. paper)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Mantle ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 6266778347489238806.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 673p.
      ISBN: 0230744761 (pbk.), 9780230744769 (pbk.), 9780230748323 (hbk.), 0230748325 (hbk.)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Pan ,
      2011 .
      image of person or book cover 9153464177086167947.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 677p.
      ISBN: 9780330477581 (pbk.)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Pan ,
      2015 .
      image of person or book cover 8198910239593078764.jpg
      This image has been sourced from Book Depository
      Extent: 673p.
      Limited edition info: Sophie Allport Design limited edition
      Note/s:
      • Published 30 July 2015
      ISBN: 9781509813278
    • Crows Nest, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Allen and Unwin , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 1759604533114753118.png
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 616p.
      Note/s:
      • Published April 2016
      ISBN: 9781760292959
Alternative title: Die fernen Stunden
Language: German
    • Munich,
      c
      Germany,
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Diana Verlag ,
      2010 .
      image of person or book cover 2640119257069674411.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 719p.
      Reprinted: 2013
      ISBN: 3453290941, 9783453356566

Other Formats

  • Large print.
  • Sound recording.
  • Braille.

Works about this Work

Books That Changed Me : Christine Wells Christine Wells , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 22 May 2016; (p. 12)
Untitled Sandy Glover , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: Library Journal , 15 March vol. 136 no. 5 2011; (p. 88-89)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Untitled Shelley Orchard , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 4 June 2011; (p. 29)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Fiction Reviews Robyn Dorelan , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 - 15 May 2011; (p. 24)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Untitled 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Publishers Weekly , 20 September vol. 257 no. 37 2010; (p. 44-45)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Fiction Reviews Bron Sibree , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 30 - 31 October 2010; (p. 24)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Dark Secrets Divulged by the Kin of the Castle Sue Green , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 6-7 November 2010; (p. 26)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Untitled Kimberley Allsopp , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , November vol. 90 no. 4 2010; (p. 38)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Mystery with a Past Dorothy Johnston , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 18-19 December 2010; (p. 24)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Fiction Reviews Robyn Dorelan , 2011 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 14 - 15 May 2011; (p. 24)

— Review of The Distant Hours Kate Morton , 2010 single work novel
Finding Fame in the Family Fiona Purdon , 2010 single work biography
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 30 - 31 October 2010; (p. 6-7)
Queen of the Castle Lissa Christopher , 2010 single work biography
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 19 December 2010; (p. 6-7)
Books That Changed Me : Christine Wells Christine Wells , 2016 single work column
— Appears in: The Sun-Herald , 22 May 2016; (p. 12)
Last amended 25 Jan 2021 16:11:23
Settings:
  • c
    England,
    c
    c
    United Kingdom (UK),
    c
    Western Europe, Europe,
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X