But when at last they’re forced to confront the people who left them behind, the relationship between an indulged brother and his ever-protective sister is finally tested.īefore I start to review this book can I just talk for a moment about how absolutely beautiful that cover is? The sprayed edges! The endpapers! It’s a bookworm’s dream of a book.

Throughout their lives, they return to the well-worn story of what they’ve lost with humor and rage. Despite every outward sign of success, Danny and Maeve are only truly comfortable when they’re together. Set over the course of five decades, The Dutch House is a dark fairy tale about two smart people who cannot overcome their past. It is this unshakable bond between them that both saves their lives and thwarts their futures. The two wealthy siblings are thrown back into the poverty their parents had escaped from and find that all they have to count on is one another. The story is told by Cyril’s son Danny, as he and his older sister, the brilliantly acerbic and self-assured Maeve, are exiled from the house where they grew up by their stepmother. Meant as a surprise for his wife, the house sets in motion the undoing of everyone he loves. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House, a lavish estate in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth.

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