Only those who have lived under a rock for the last four years can be forgiven for having not heard of the publishing behemoth that is Australian author Kate Morton. The Distant Hours follows the huge international successes of The Shifting Fog and The Forgotten Garden, and it’s another absorbing romantic thriller that will delight Morton’s millions of fans.

Evacuated from London as a 13-year-old girl, Edie Burchill’s mother was chosen by the mysterious Juniper Blythe. She was taken to live at the grand Milderhurst Castle, also home to Juniper’s twin sisters and their father, Raymond, the author of children’s book The True History of the Mud Man. Fifty years on, Edie is chasing answers to a mysterious, long-lost letter that arrives at her door, postmarked Milderhurst Castle. Edie’s inexplicably drawn to her mother’s former home and encounters for herself its now decaying insides, and the Sisters Blythe who still live together within its walls.

What follows is a tale of dark secrets, family histories, and what it is to discover the joys of books and reading (all common themes in Morton’s work). But what I found so clever about The Distant Hours is that it’s entirely devoid of cliché; the characters are likeable but entirely believable, and the narrative is unexpected but always satisfying. This is old-fashioned storytelling at its best and it gets my vote as one of the best books of the year so far.