The Secret of the Lighthouse
by Santa Montefiore
Category: Fiction

"Ellen Trawton is running away from it all - quite literally. She is engaged to marry an aristocratic man she doesn't love, she hates her job, and her mother...well, her mother is not a woman to be crossed. So Ellen escapes to the one place she knows her mother won't follow her - to her aunt's cottage on Ireland's dramatic Connemara coast. Once there, she is embraced by a family of aunts, uncles and cousins her mother never mentioned. Her imagination is captured by the picturesque ruins of a lighthouse where, five years earlier, a young mother died in a fire. Locals say she may have been murdered by her husband, Conor Macausland, who abandoned the his castle after his wife's death. Cutting all her ties chic London society, and therefore not knowing about the search for her that has begun, Ellen gives in to Ireland's charm, warmth, and romance, thinking her future may lie where so much of her past has been hidden. Meanwhile, Caitlin Macausland is mourning the future she can never have. After dying in the lighhouse fire, she is unable to move on. She watches her children and her husband, hoping they might see her, that she might feel their love once more. When Caitlin notices Ellen's arrival, she senses her world is about to change. Can she prevent it? Or can she find a way to freedom and happiness, the happiness she sees in the spirit of a little girl who, for some reason, also can't move on? The rugged coastline, tightknit communities, and ancient landmarks of western Ireland provide the backdrop for this story of two women seeking peace and the love they desparately need. For each of them, the key can be found in the secrets of the past, illuminated by the lighthouse"--