When her Aunt Tony dies, Holly is overcome with grief and guilt.
For the past five years she has worked in Glasgow and has been too busy teaching and fitting in with her fiancé's schedule to drive north to Argyll to visit her aunt. She has happy memories of childhood holidays spent in her aunt's isolated cottage beside beautiful Torry Bay , but now, after the funeral, she is shocked to find a secret she knew nothing about. Holly was not the only person in Tony's life as she had believed.
Locked in the attic are her aunt's paintings that record all the significant events of Tony's life. She has poured out her feelings onto canvas and gradually Holly realises that the pictures not only reveal a deep love that had endured for nearly 60 years, but they proclaim Tony's genius as an artist. They cannot be allowed to remain hidden. Tony's lover is Blaise Fougere, a world famous opera singer and she has sacrificed her own career and fame to protect him and his family from any gossip. Now that all the main players are dead, Holly is determined that Tony's genius will be recognised, but she has reckoned without the opposition of Blaise Fougere's nephew. He doesn't believe the story and does his utmost to prevent Holly from showing the pictures.
The book is written with alternating chapters. Holly makes one discovery after another, but in the intervening sections the reader is with the lovers every step of the way, sharing their pain, grief, passion and joy. And through it all, Torry Bay lays its spell on characters and reader alike, and cements the story together.
This is more than a love story; it is three running along side each other: Tony and Blaise, her niece and his nephew and the love all the characters share for beautiful Torry Bay.
The music and rhythm of the language compliment that of the operas, the seasons in Argyll, the changeable weather in Torry Bay and Tony's moods and emotions.
The most absorbing book I have read in years. Brilliant. Unforgettable. Any reader will enjoy it. Any writer could learn from it. |
