Glimmer of Hope
Editor's note: This is one of a trio of novels are Regency era love stories by local authors that are sweet and keep the romance to kissing and feelings of longing, despite reputations to uphold and obstacles of pride and others scheming. GLIMMER OF HOPE, by Sarah M. Eden, Covenant Communications, $15.99, 197 pages (f) In her recent Regency era novel, Glimmer of Hope, local author Sarah M. Eden has crafted a love story of secrets, assumptions and expectations from family and society that she dramatically unveils one at a time. When Carter Alexander Harford, the Seventh Viscount Devereaux, goes to his rarely visited country estate for a house party, he is shocked to find in residence there his wife, whom he hasn t seen or heard from in three years. Miranda, who has quietly lived there for three years, is surprised when her husband unexpectedly arrives and announced a house party will follow. Carter and Miranda were in love when they married. A few months after their wedding, they had a trip planned to London, but Carter and his father agreed it would be better for her to stay at the family s home. She was disappointed at the last-minute change of plans. When he came back from London, she wasn't there. During the house party, Carter and Miranda agree on an uneasy truce to keep up appearances, although it's complicated by Carter s overbearing and judgmental mother, who doesn t disguise her opinion of her daughter-in-law. Carter begins to realize what he s been told and what he currently sees aren t adding up, but their icy feelings of abandonment, pride and frustration at their situation have to crack before their long-buried emotions can even have a chance. As they each start to let down their guard, they catch glimmers of the person they fell in love with, which gives them hope of possibly becoming friends and maybe becoming more. It s an emotional romance story, that Eden has tightly woven as Carter tries to uncover the reasons and secrets of why and how they ended up separated. It's a book that s difficult to put down while rooting for the couple. Glimmer of Hope is a stand-alone book that isn t tied to her other series or other books, even though the Duke and Duchess of Hartley and their family from Drops of Gold do make an appearance. --Christine Rappleye, Deseret News