Review : Stillhouse Pond - Jan Watson

I wonder if places really do live up to their namesake as we are about to discover that in Jan Watson's book "Stillhouse Pond" the village they live in "Troublesome Creek" is definitley just that Troublesome.

Review: Stillhouse Pond - Troublesome Creek Trilogy - Jan Watson - 2010

Set in the year 1896, Lily and her family live in a small country town of Troublesome creek. Her mother known throughout the novel as Copper, is the local nurse/midwife. Stillhouse Pond is part of a trilogy and focuses on two main storylines. The first storyline is of her mother's tale as a midwife and sets the tone for the story as she lets us on with the tale of her patients and their births -one in particular Adie Still.

The second part of the story focuses on eleven-year old Lily as her mother recieves a letter from her late husband's sister Alice. Alice's brother Simon was Copper's first husband and Lily's biological dad. Alice- a wealthy woman has requested to have Lily come to Lewiston and visit her on an all-expenses paid trip. Copper a tad anxious has second thoughts about sending Lily alone on the train. Is it just the train ride thats bothering Copper or is it something deeper ? With the persuasion of her current husband John, Copper reluctantly agrees. However danger awaits for Lily as on the way to the train , she is kidnapped by the Still family who blame her family for the death of their wife and mother. At the same time, the train Lily was supposed to be on is in an accident , so Copper and the family believing that Lily was on the train rushes forth to Four Corners. As they search the rubble of the train wreck, how long will it take them to realise Lily wasn't on the train but holed up right under their noses back home in an old stinky barn ?

Stillhouse Pond by Jan Watson is a novel that can either be read as part of the trilogy or a stand-alone .