Secrets and Shadows

The powerful new novel from the author of The Venetian House

Mary Nickson has three children and having lived in Yorkshire for many years, she recently moved to Perthshire, Scotland. She is also the author of The Venetian House and her website address is www.marynickson.co.uk

Determined to start a new life, Louisa Forrester has come to Scotland in search of adventure, new relationships and a second chance. She has enrolled on a creative writing course at the renowned Glendrochatt Arts Centre. It is here that she meets Marnie Donovan, a young American woman who has travelled to Scotland in search of the childhood home of her eccentric benefactress, hoping for answers to questions that have haunted her all her life.Isobel Grant, who runs the centre with her husband Giles, is facing the greatest challenge of her life but must put on a brave face for everyone's sake. 
 
Initially Louisa and Marnie dislike each other, especially when both women are drawn to the same man. And Isobel must keep the peace.But enigmatic Christopher Piper carries his own secrets from the past and in their brief encounter all are forced to confront the truth about themselves and the choices they have made. 
 
Told with warmth and insight, Secrets and Shadows is a beautifully written story of three women and how they learn to embrace the future, however uncertain ...

Mary Nickson

SOMETIMES COMING TO TERMS WITH THE FUTURE MEANS LETTING GO OF THE PAST... 
 
For Victoria, orphaned at six, her grandmother Evanthi's beautiful home in Corfu - known locally as The Venetian House - has always meant safety, freedom and a near-magical kind of contentment. Brought up by her cousin Guy's parents in England, she - together with Guy and his childhood friend Richard Cunningham - always longed for the idylllic summer holidays where they forged a friendship that would last a lifetime. Victoria was mesmerized by brilliant, selfish, enigmatic Guy, but it was safe, affectionate, reliable Richard whom she married. 
 
Now, twenty years later, Richard is dead. Victoria discovers her marriage was a sham and, desperate to escape, she takes Jake out to The Venetian House, feeling that only these beloved surroundings can she face her demons. 
 
Then photographer Patrick Hammond arrives. He brings with him his own troubles - his marriage to elegant, self-centred, neurotic Rachel is in crisis - yet a friendship, and possibly something more, starts to develop between Patrick and Victoria. But for Evanthi there is something strangely familiar about Patrick and soon she is forced to face her own troubled past.

The Venetian House

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