My Grandmother's Secret - (Dovecote Cottages) by Laura Sweeney (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Grace stares out towards the glittering blue sea from the window in her grandmother's rose-scented bedroom, clutching an old, sealed envelope to her chest. With shaking hands, she reads the address. This letter will change everything she believed about her grandmother...

Returning to her late grandmother Lily's seaside cottage in the beautiful village of Dovecote after the end of her marriage, Grace wipes a tear from her eye. Beyond the gate, daisy bushes line the path to the house where Grace can remember Lily sitting at the bay window writing letters. Surely spending time in the only place that's ever felt like home will help to heal her heart?

But as Grace begins to sort through her grandmother's possessions, she discovers romantic letters from the Second World War in unfamiliar handwriting, each signed 'Henri'. She thought her grandmother had shared everything with her, so why doesn't Grace recognise this name? Buried amongst the letters is a sealed envelope, addressed in her grandmother's hand. Hesitant to open it, Grace wonders why didn't Lily send this last letter? And why did she keep it hidden all these years?

Desperate for answers, Grace asks the one person she knows can help, her ex-boyfriend and historian James. Meeting for the first time in over a decade, Grace is surprised to see James hasn't changed, and his charming smile is a welcome distraction from her grief. Together they agree to locate the author of the mysterious wartime letters. And as Grace gazes into James's kind, brown eyes, as they piece together the truth, she wonders if years of heartache could be unwritten...

But just as Grace's feelings for James begin to resurface, they uncover a heartbreaking secret inside the envelope that changes everything. Could these letters be a sign Grace needs to take a second chance on love? Or will Lily's past force Grace to confront a secret of her own, which could tear her and James apart forever?

An utterly gripping, emotional and uplifting read about family secrets and second chances. Fans of Susanne O'Leary, Debbie Macomber and Mary Alice Monroe will absolutely adore this tear-jerker.