Divorced and lonely,
Flora Wilson is distraught when she hears news of the death of little Charlotte
Anderson. Charlotte’s father killed her and then himself, and although he left
a letter with clues to her grave, his two-year-old daughter still hasn’t been
found. Convinced that she failed her own children, now grown up and seldom at
home, Flora embarks on a quest to find Charlotte’s body to give the child’s
mother closure, believing that by doing so she can somehow atone for her own
failings.
As she hunts in winter
through the remote moors of the Scottish Highlands, her obsession comes to
challenge the very fabric of her life — her job, her friendship with her
colleague Philip Metcalfe, and her relationships with her three children.
My Impressions:
This was a wonderful story of two women's lives that have suffered in extremely different ways but trying to find new meaning in life and self discovery later in life. I think we as moms, especially single moms, all go through something similar to what Flora experiences, when our kids have grown and are gone. We look for meaning, a new adventure, to know we still have worth and value now that our mothering days are over. This can be especially true if your relationships area fractured with your children as they are with Flora.
Interwoven in the book is the story of Charlotte and her mother. Charlotte was killed by her father at the age of 2, who then took his own life. Suzanna finds herself with no husband, no daughter and unanswered questions. Struggling to find her place in her new world and circumstances she struggles with depression, guilt and the difficulty of moving on. Without giving anything away in the book I was really hoping for a different ending with Charlotte and her mother.
I will say that this book started off pretty slow for me, picked up half way through and then really soared home. I enjoyed getting to know Flora and Phillip and seeing how that relationship progressed and grew. This book will pull at any woman's heart strings and worth the read.
Giveaway:
Jennifer will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host. Additionally, Goddess Fish Productions will be awarding a $5 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn host.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Enjoy and Excerpt
She thought she knew the place where Alastair Anderson had
left his car, and found it easily enough. Under her fingers the map was a flat
web of never-parallel lines, of ugly pock-marking that told of steep, loose rocks
and inhospitable terrain, just the type of place they used to walk. Somewhere
up here, Charlotte Anderson was buried. Carried there, already dead? Or walked
there and then killed? Surely neither was realistic; surely they would have
found her, with their dogs and their mountain rescue helicopters scouring the
ground for new scars, and all the rest of the equipment they had at their
disposal.
Looking at the map had been a mistake. It was obvious now.
Besides, she couldn’t see it any more; all she could see was the image of
Suzanne Beauchamp, that beautiful face with the cold façade, like a wax death
mask from Madame Tussaud’s. More poignant, of course, since it must hide a
struggle, a struggle to conceal or to suppress a deadly mixture of grief and guilt.
‘Go away!’ she said softly to this mirage of a grieving
woman, a little afraid of its power. ‘Go away!’ And then, in the only defence
left to her, she began to fold the map away.
before then. The thing that runs through all my writing is an
interest in the world around me. I love travel and geography and the locations
of my stories is always important to me. And of course I love reading —
anything and everything.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
I live in Edinburgh and I write romance and contemporary women’s
fiction. I’ve been writing all my life and my first book was published in
February 2014, though I’ve had short stories published before then. The thing
that runs through all my writing is an interest in the world around me. I love
travel and geography and the locations of my stories is always important to me.
And of course I love reading — anything and everything.
Links
Tirgearr Publishing
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Smashwords
Facebook
Twitter
@JYnovelist
Comments