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The Secret Hours

Family secrets and enduring love - from the Number One bestselling author (The Deverill Chronicles 4)

About The Book

The enchanting novel from Sunday Times bestselling author Santa Montefiore

‘Let the wind take me and the soft rain settle me into the Irish soil from where I came. And may my sins be forgiven.’

Arethusa Clayton has always been formidable, used to getting her own way. On her death, she leaves unexpected instructions. Instead of being buried in America, on the wealthy East Coast where she and her late husband raised their two children, Arethusa has decreed that her ashes be scattered in a remote corner of Ireland, on the hills overlooking the sea.

All Arethusa ever told Faye was that she grew up in a poor farming family and left Ireland, alone, to start a new life in America as did so many in those times of hardship and famine. But who were her family in Ireland and where are they now? What was the real reason that she turned away from them? And who is the mysterious benefactor of a significant share of Arethusa’s estate?

Arethusa is gone. There is no one left to tell her story. Faye feels bereft, as if her mother’s whole family has died with her. Leaving her own husband and children behind, she travels to the picturesque village of Ballinakelly, determined to fulfil her mother’s last wish and to find out the reason for Arethusa’s insistence on being laid to rest in this faraway land.

'AN ATMOSPHERIC, MESMERISING READ' My Weekly

'PASSIONATE AND INTRIGUING' Woman's Weekly

***PRAISE FOR SANTA MONTEFIORE***

‘Nobody does epic romance like Santa Montefiore’ JOJO MOYES

‘An enchanting read overflowing with deliciously poignant moments’ DINAH JEFFERIES on Songs of Love and War

‘Santa Montefiore hits the spot for my like few other writers’ SARRA MANNING

‘One of our personal favourites’ THE TIMES on The Last Secret of the Deverills

‘Accomplished and poetic’ Daily Mail

‘Santa Montefiore is a marvel’ Sunday Express

'One of our personal favourites' The Times

About The Author

(c) Laura Aziz

Santa Montefiore is a Sunday Times (London) bestselling author. Her books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and have sold more than six million copies in England and Europe. She is the bestselling author of The Temptation of Gracie and the Deverill series, among many others. She is married to writer Simon Sebag Montefiore. They live with their two children, Lily and Sasha, in London. Visit her at SantaMontefiore.co.uk and connect with her on X @SantaMontefiore or on Instagram @SantaMontefioreOfficial.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (July 11, 2019)
  • Length: 400 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781471169649

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More books in this series: The Deverill Chronicles