Jonathan Williams is a quiet man, in essence alone with the
possible exception of his best friend and house mate,
Alayne.
When Jonathan inherits Trevaglan Farm from a distant cousin,
it is natural that Alayne accompany him to view the property
and help him settle in.
Jonathan had only visited Trevaglan once, 14 years ago, the
same summer he lost his mother. His return conjures both
bright memories and dark, and sets in motion a resolution
that may cost him Alayne, the man who has come to mean the
world to him.
He is remembered by the townsfolk, and the residents of the
farm, not all of them with fondness. He loved for the first
time that long ago summer, and lost that love in
circumstances he cannot bear to revisit. Now tokens of the
past appear on his windowsill, secret signals only he and
his lover knew. But Nat is dead, so who is tormenting
Jonathan and endangering Alayne?
LOVER'S KNOT is one of the better books I've read. The
violent events of the past are painted in harsh colors,
truth is not disguised with pretty language, yet the
underlying theme of sweet love long denied is what lingers
after the last page.
Hardy is able to write intensely moving, quietly passionate
love scenes, yet also evoke in blistering detail harrowing
scenes from the main character's past, neither overshadowing
the other, both integral to the beautiful conclusion.
It has many elements I like, including a turn of the century
British location (Cornwall, 1906), a Gothic ghost story and
deeply felt, passionate love. In tone, it reminds me of the
way I felt reading Rebecca by Daphne Dumarier for the
first
time. The same sense of my breath catching in my throat, the
feeling of the characters caught up in inevitable conflict
and of the past being revealed page by page.
LOVER'S KNOT is Donald L. Hardy's first work of fiction, and
a book that will remain dear to my heart.
Jonathan Williams has inherited Trevaglan Farm from a
distant relative. With his best friend, Alayne, in tow,
Jonathan returns to the estate to take possession, meet the
current staff, and generally learn what it’s like to live as
the landed gentry now. He’d only been there once before,
fourteen years earlier. But that was a different time, he’s
a different person now, determined to put that experience
out of his mind and his heart….
The locals agree that
Jonathan is indeed different from the lost young man he was
that long ago summer, when he arrived at the farm for a stay
after his mother died. Back then the hot summer days were
filled with sunshine, the nearby ocean, and a new friend,
Nat. Jonathan and the farmhand had quickly grown close,
Jonathan needing comfort in the wake of his grief, and Nat
basking in the peace and love he didn’t have at home.
But
that was also a summer of rumors and strange happenings in
the surrounding countryside, romantic triangles and wronged
lovers. Tempers would flare like a summer lightning storm,
and ebb just as quickly. By the summer’s end, one young man
was dead, and another haunted for life.
Now Jonathan is
determined to start anew. Until he starts seeing the ghost
of his former friend everywhere he looks. Until mementos of
that summer idyll reappear. Until Alayne’s life is in
danger. Until the town’s resident witch tells Jonathan that
ghosts are real. And this one is tied to Jonathan unto death…
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