Review: The House on Fortune Street

Margot Livesey’s novel, The House on Fortune Street, is a wonderfully written tale about love and choices. It follows four very different characters, but yet these characters are all connected in distinct ways. Sean, a scholar working on his dissertation about Keats, has recently left his wife to be with Abigail, an actress who has started her own theater company. Sean was all Abigail wanted and pressured him hard to leave his wife. Now, there is no time to see each other, and regret might be seeping into each of their consciousness. Dara, Abigail’s best friend from St. Andrews University, has recently moved into the downstairs apartment in Abigail’s house on Fortune Street. She’s a social worker with some emotional damage of her own. When she was 10, her father, Cameron, left for unknown reasons, and she has dealt with feelings of abandonment since then. Cameron, himself, has some secrets as to why he left his family.

Livesey’s writing is so personal, the characters are so intertwined in each others stories. It flows through Sean’s story, into Cameron’s, into Dara’s and finally Abigail’s. Each one reveals something new, which then relates to the next story, and it’s all weaved together until you get to the end and you are hit with a powerful and touching ending that will stay with you long after you put the book down.

I highly recommend this heartrending story. Thank you so much to Stephanie for sending me a copy to read and review!!!