The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer (titled The Midnight Estate in some countries)

#TheMidnightEstate #NetGalley

See American cover below

349 pages

three and 1/2 stars

Fiction-Women’s fiction-historical fiction-Gothic

Pub date: 21 July 2026

My thoughts:

When this book was described as a cross between Kate Morton’s Homecoming and Rachel Hawkins’ The Heiress, I knew that I wanted to read it. Although Rimmer has written a number of novels, this is the first book that I have read by her.

Here is a story within a story. Fiona has had a rough time of it. Readers will find out why she has left the city to return to her recently deceased uncle’s home. The house has a reputation for being haunted and this story most definitely has Gothic elements in it.

Readers will follow Fiona’s life. They will get to meet the people who are part of her world.

Fiona discovers that her uncle left behind twelve copies of a novel. She begins to read this and it is quite a tale. Will Fiona’s own story and family intersect with the contents of this novel? If so, how, and will our protagonist survive her experiences? Read this one to find out.

I must give content warnings for the novel within the novel. There is domestic violence and coercive behavior. Some readers may not want to read the novel for this reason.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All thoughts are my own.

Post first published on 31 July 2026

Description:

from the publisher

AN INDIE NEXT PICK • A LIBRARY READS #1 TOP PICK   

A limited edition paperback featuring foil and embossing, with gorgeous custom designed edges. 

“Kelly Rimmer is at her most skillful here… An emotional, haunting tale.” —Julia Kelly, internationally bestselling author of The Dressmakers of London

In the aftermath of a tumultuous year, Fiona Winslow finds solace in the decaying grandeur of Wurimbirra, the rambling family estate she once called home. Intent on restoring it, she discovers the keys to more than just the dilapidated mansion—beneath the crumbling plaster and dust are secrets that have been buried for a generation.

When a curious book, The Midnight Estate, catches her attention in her late uncle’s library, Fiona is plunged into a tale that mirrors her own—a story of love, loss and betrayal. But as the lines between fiction and reality blur, Fiona must ask herself: Is the true mystery the one hidden within the walls of her ancestral home, or is it within the pages of a book that chose her as much as she chose it?

Told in a dual narrative and set against the Gothic backdrop of Wurimbirra, Kelly Rimmer, bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say, weaves an intricate and compelling tale, inviting readers into the heart of a family’s deepest secrets with an absorbing book-within-a-book mystery.

“Kelly Rimmer always delivers a poignant story with real characters who lodge themselves in your heart.” —New York Times bestselling author Madeline Martin

For more by Kelly Rimmer, look for

The Paris Agent

Before I Let You Go

The Things We Cannot Say

Truths I Never Told You

The Warsaw Orphan

The German Wife

From People Magazine:

Kelly Rimmer is unraveling another twisty story.

PEOPLE has an exclusive first look at the author’s latest novel, The Story Keeper, out next summer via MIRA, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

The novel follows Fiona Winslow who escapes to her family’s gothic estate, Wurimbirra, after a difficult year. The once-prosperous home is now deteriorating, and Fiona intends to restore it to its former grandeur.

But when Fiona uncovers an old book that belonged to her late uncle entitled The Midnight Estate, she learns that the volume eerily mirrors her own life. Soon, fiction begins to mix with reality, and Fiona is forced to confront the true mysteries of the book and Wurimbirra.

“This story is so special to me,” Rimmer, the bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say and The German Wife, tells PEOPLE. “It’s a book-within-a-book family mystery, a love song to all things books and an ode to small towns like the place I called home as a kid. I can’t wait to share it with readers!”

Read an exclusive excerpt from The Story Keeper below.

Uncle Tad was a storyteller by nature as well as profession and he loved to tell elaborate stories about the “ghosts” he supposedly shared Wurimbirra with. So many ghosts. Not a menacing one among the crowd of them, at least in the stories Tad told me. I was possibly the first child in history to grow up believing she lived in a haunted house and thrilled about the excitement of it. I used to hope and pray I’d see one of Tad’s ghosts.

Only as I grew older did I learn that there were other stories that circulate around this region — about the mansion’s dark past, about spirits lingering on the land because of unfathomable injustice and unresolved pain. There’s a terrible truth behind all of that — a few years before this house was built, something unthinkable did happen right on the other side of the low concrete wall that bounds the existing property. Even so, I don’t believe in ghosts, and that’s mostly because I lived here for 16 years and in all of that time, I never felt anything but safe and loved.

From Parade Magazine:

For readers who love family secrets, decaying estates and a slow burn, The Story Keeper is on shelves now, and it is the kind of book that rewards a long afternoon and a spot on the to-be-read pile. The result is a summer read with a chill running through it.