Kate Morton is emerging as one of my favorite writers. I have read three by her now: The Distant Hours, The House at Riverton and now this one. I also heard she has a new book out, The Secret Keeper. AND, I saw something online about this book becoming a movie, but nothing confirming.
I think what I like about Morton is her consistency. Her plots may seem a little bit the same: families in England go back generations to discover family secrets of love and betrayal. Specifically in this one, a young woman in Australia inherits a cottage on the Cornish coast of England and travels there to find out why her grandmother was put on a boat to Australia as a young child, essentially abandoned. The plots never fail to have a twist at the end, despite heavy foreshadowing that makes you think you have it figured out. If you remember, I complained about the foreshadowing in the last one, but it was a touch lighter here.
When I read now, I am often thinking as a writer as well as a reader. I think the plots help me lose myself in the story, but what pulls me back into my own head here is the description. I think Morton has a failing I see in my students: overuse of the thesaurus. There are times when she uses a sort of high-falutin' word when a simpler one would have done. I mean, titivating? perspicacious? Maybe I'm just grumping because I had to look those words up, but I also doubt the character's actual use of those words. I want to see the scene through the character's eyes, not the writer's, or I lose focus. Also, she often applies these types of words to long descriptions of the scenery. Granted, I need help picturing the Cornish coast, and a British antipodean garden (had to look that one up, too), but there's only so much of that I want to read.
I guess my question here is: how much description is too much? As a reader, I often skip paragraphs of description to get to the meaty plot parts. But I appreciate a well-turned phrase that really puts you in the scene, too. What do you think? How much setting description do you like?
