Heart-warming story of healing

The Summer of Secrets

AUTHOR: Barbara Hannay PUBLISHER: Penguin

RRP: $32.99

REVIEWER: Mary Ann Elliott

EVEN though romantic fiction is not usually my chosen domain, I read Barbara Hannay’s latest book with great enthusiasm.

Having read her two earlier books, The Grazier’s Wife and The Country Wedding , I enjoyed this story just as much.

Author Barbara is a city bred girl with a yen for country life and lives on a misty hillside in beautiful Far North Queensland.

Her story begins with Chloe preparing a special meal for her live-in partner Jason.

They’ve been together for seven years and Chloe at 37 desperately wants a child.

The evening comes to a shattering end with Jason announcing he has never wanted to be a father.

It seems Chloe has left everything too late, but she leaves in search of a better life.

She moves as far away as she can, to a job on a small country newspaper in Queensland’s far north.

She plans to embark on single motherhood on IVF, but soon realises the grass is no greener elsewhere.

Grouchy news editor, Finn Latimer, lost his wife and son in the Bali bombings and has retreated emotionally. Emily, the paper’s owner is battling with her husband’s desertion. It seems everyone has problems.

The lessons are clear; secrets and silence harbour pain, while honesty and openness bring healing and hope. And love.

Chloe summons all her courage to bring Finn out of his grief, with romantic results.

I was totally engrossed in Hannay’s heart-warming story of love lost and regained and it was the perfect read during the school holidays.