The Housekeepers

Author:

Alex Hay was born and raised near Cambridge and Cardiff in the UK and studied history at the University of York. Today, he lives with his husband in London. The Housekeepers is his first novel and his second will be published in January of 2025.

Learn More about Alex Hay

Three words to describe this read:

Secretive- There’s always an ulterior motive for the characters throughout the story and while it makes the plot more interesting, it also leaves the reader a little in the dark. The whole time I was reading, I was worried that I was missing a step but by the end, everything came together.

Imaginative- While I’m sure a lot of the setting was based on in-depth research of the time period, I also felt that some of what happened required some imagination from the reader. It felt like some details were left out, but maybe that was intentional to add to the mystery of the heist.

Equivocating- There was a deeper, darker motivation for these ladies to pull off their job and while the true reason was never directly named, it was heavily implied. Part of me sees why Hay didn’t come out and say it, but part of me almost wishes that he had.

Quote:

“'You know the rules. If you need to make someone feel small, so that you can feel tall…'

Mrs. Bone recited the rest. 'Then, my goodness, my dear, you’re no person at all. Quite right. I taught you that myself. You should all listen to that, my girls.'”

This quote was too cute not to feature. It felt like a saying that a teacher would have the kids repeat back to them.