"The House on the Cliff" by D.E. Stevenson (re-read)

My online D.E. Stevenson group recently finished its chapter-by-chapter group read & discussion of  "The House on the Cliff," a 1966 Stevenson novel. (As usual, I read the book through on my own before we started going through it as a group. My original review here.)   

"The House on the Cliff" is a fairly typical DES novel: young Elfrida Jane Ware is a struggling young actress, in love with the handsome star of her current production (who doesn't seem to notice her at all), and missing her mother, who recently died after a long illness.  

Then she learns that the grandmother she never knew has also recently died, leaving her the sole heiress to Mountain Cross, the big old house by the sea in Devonshire where her mother grew up -- although not a lot of cash to fund the upkeep. Impulsively, she quits her job and heads to Devon to make a home for herself at Mountain Cross. She's just nicely settled into her new life when someone from her past pays her an unexpected visit... 

This was an easy read, a little old-fashioned and fairly predictable, but with Stevenson's usual cast of well-drawn, memorable characters and beautiful scenic descriptions.  

My original rating stands:  3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 stars on Goodreads. 

ALI alert/content warning:  Plot elements include a child in jeopardy and a de facto adoption. 

Our group's next read will be "Bel Lamington" (one I haven't read -- or at least, I don't remember ever reading it), starting in the new year.  

This was Book #46 read to date in 2023 (and Book #2 finished in December), bringing me to 102% of my 2023 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books! :)  4 books ahead of schedule. :) You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2023 tagged as "2023 books."