In the tradition of Kristin Hannah and Karen Joy Folwer, Meg Waite Clayton, bestselling author of The Wednesday Sisters, returns with an enthralling new novel of mothers, daughters, and the secrets and dreams passed down through generations.
It is early evening when Hope Tantry arrives at the small cottage in EnglandΓ’β¬β’s pastoral Lake District where her mother, Ally, spent the last years of her life. AllyΓ’β¬βone of a close-knit group of women who called themselves the Wednesday SistersΓ’β¬βhad used the cottage as a writerΓ’β¬β’s retreat while she worked on her unpublished biography of Beatrix Potter, yet Hope knows little about her motherΓ’β¬β’s time there. Traveling with Hope are friends Anna Page and Julie, first introduced as little girls in The Wednesday Sisters, now grown women grappling with issues of a different era. TheyΓ’β¬β’ve come to help Hope sort through her motherΓ’β¬β’s personal effects, yet what they find is a tangled family historyΓ’β¬βone steeped in Lake District lore.
Hope finds a stack of AllyΓ’β¬β’s old notebooks tucked away in a hidden drawer, all written in a mysterious code. As she, Julie, and Anna Page try to decipher AllyΓ’β¬β’s writingsΓ’β¬βthe reason for their encryption, their possible connection to the Potter manuscriptΓ’β¬βthey are forced to confront their own personal struggles: HopeΓ’β¬β’s doubts about her marriage, JulieΓ’β¬β’s grief over losing her twin sister, Anna PageΓ’β¬β’s fear of commitment in relationships. And as the real reason for AllyΓ’β¬β’s stay in England comes to light, Hope, Julie, and Anna Page reach a new understanding about the enduring bonds of family, the unwavering strength of love, and the inescapable pull of the past.
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