Author(s): Colette Caddle

General

This is the stunning new novel from the Number 1 bestselling Irish author. Everybody has a secret...Erin Joyce fled Dublin two years ago for the hills and lakes and winding country lanes of Dunbarra. Here she bought a rambling stone guesthouse and began to rebuild her life. In the beautiful grounds she grows vegetables, which she supplies to local restaurateurs including best friend Marguerite. Her kind-heart and generous, no-frills hospitality have attracted a strangle little herd of permanent guests: from waifish Hazel and her adorable but silent daughter Gracie, to the brash American, Sandra, and stoical old PJ. She has even started up a new relationship with local farmer Mark. But Erin's fragile happiness is thrown off-balance by the unexpected arrival of Marguerite's brother: A-list Hollywood actor, Sebastian Grey. Sebastian has suffered a nervous breakdown, and so when Marguerite asks Erin to put him up, how can she refuse? Recalling an arrogant, loathsome charmer, Erin finds him utterly changed. Gone is the swagger; replaced by an emaciated, shy-seeming shell, whose haunted eyes follow the other guests from an emotional remove. Erin finds herself increasingly drawn to this handsome stranger, and wonders what trauma could possibly have brought about this devastating change? Sebastian is not the only one keeping secrets. Even as we find ourselves drawn into the local life of Dunbarra, we start to realise its charming backdrop masks some dark, disarming truths. No-one is quite what they seem. What was Erin running away from in Dublin? And what happened to make little Gracie mute? Everyone is running from a past. The question is: just how long can they go before their lies start to catch them up?