The Outer Hebrides of Scotland are the setting for this atmospheric telling of a family's tragic deception. As the last living relative of a once prominent artist, Hetty Deveraux leaves London to renovate her ancestral home and create a luxury hotel but also to step back from a relationship that is in its last days. But Muirlan is built on the bones and backs of the local people and not everyone is enthused about Hetty's plans. When a body is found underneath the floorboards of one of the rooms questions abound. How long has this murdered body been hidden there and most importantly who is it?
In a story told by the people involved in the years before the Great War we learn of the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled and the promises that could not be kept. On an island where the class distinction between the haves and have nots is ingrained in stone, every decision leads to steps that will bring two souls together and tear every one else apart. When the ability to love is stifled what is the outcome? Is love truly selfless or can it turn a person into the very image of destruction? What would you do for love and more importantly, what wouldn't you stop at?
Hetty's journey into solving this mystery and determining the fate of her estate will place her on the same path as the descendant of one of the main characters but will they face the same sorts of decisions or can they achieve the ultimate insight as they face off across the barricades of wrongs done and gone but never forgiven.
This is a lovingly detailed journey of recovery from loss and the acceptance of love, of the appreciation of the small things in life that bind us as one and the littlest things that can divide. Reading this is a foray into an emotional tangle which will leave the reader with a more in depth feel for the emotional toil love can take.
A definite recommend for the romantic at heart.
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