title: Time Tells Tales: Tale Two - Love, Loss, Lust and Lies
author: Fletcher, Stephanie
description: Catherine's Tale
  This is the sequel to Tale One - Alfred's Tale, and tells the story from the perspective of Catherine, the love of Alfred's troubled life. Here we meet this young girl, Catherine, on the verge of womanhood, who has to deal with the unexpected death of her Mother under suspicious circumstances and the fallout of her Father's grief and the interference of the Catholic Church.
  Catherine is bought up a devout Roman Catholic living in a town called Puncheston, County of Kildare in Ireland, in the 1930's.
  Just as Catherine seems to be coming to terms with her loss, she suffers an attempted rape by a trusted member of the family, a cousin older than her twelve years who makes this abhorrent, botched declaration of his love for her, resulting in uproar and more emotional outbursts.
  We can live every moment with Catherine as we read from the pages of her Diary. She aspires to become a writer like Jane Austin, her heroine. We have access to her most private thoughts, written as she struggles to come to terms with all the devastating trials and tribulations that beset her. She describes her first love, secret, and forbidden eventually giving into lust with Alfred, the apprentice butcher, who comes from a family of some disrepute. We continue with her as the consequences of their actions drive them far apart - forever.
  What are these consequences? Will Catherine ever recover from the highs and lows of this emotional roller coaster? Will she recover from the loss, the lust, the love, and the lies?