"The suspense grips the audience from the start"
Every June 21, the Connecticut media makes a big show of
the vanishing of pregnant pixie Mara Jameson nine years
ago. Like everyone else retired State Police Officer
Patrick Murphy, who worked the still unsolved case,
reflects on how the married Mara went out to work her
grandmother's rose garden, but vanished; but unlike most
people who believe her spouse Edward Hunter got away with
killing Mara Patrick believes she is alive. In Cape Hawk near the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Lily Malone
owns the store In Stitch while raising her almost nine
years old daughter Rose alone. Rose has a heart condition
that has required surgery and will require one more
operation. Lily reflects back to when she was Mara
knowing she misses her beloved grandmother but fears what
Edward would do to their child if he ever found them; that
dread that he will do something ugly made her run in the
first place. However, the past is catching up to Lily who
fears Rose will be his victim if he finds them. The suspense grips the audience from the start even though
the lead protagonist does not make an appearance until a
few chapters into the gripping story line. Instead
readers "see" Mara through the eyes of her grandmother and
Patrick; ironically Edward's perspective comes out much
later well after the audience has met Lily, Rose, the
child's best friend Jess and their kind neighbor Dr. Liam
Niell. Lily is a courageous soul struggling not to be
a "bruised rose" before returning home (see the upcoming
SUMMER OF ROSES for those events) with Liam at her side
ready to protect both of his females. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted June 7, 2005
SummaryTHERE'S A PLACE IN OUR HEARTS RESERVED FOR MIRACLES...
From Luanne Rice, the celebrated author of Beach Girls and
many other New York Times bestsellers, comes this powerful
novel of a mystery, a love affair, and a bond that cannot be
broken set in a seaside town where miracles are made...
On the first day of summer, Mara Jameson went out to water
her garden--and was never seen again. Years after her
disappearance, no one could forget the expectant mother
whose glowing smile had captured the heart of everyone who'd
known her: Maeve Jameson, still mourning the loss of a
granddaughter she had struggled to protect...Patrick Murphy, a
dogged police detective obsessed with a vanished woman...and
Lily Malone, drawn to the rugged beauty of the Nova Scotia
coast and its promise of a new life.
Here Lily hopes to raise her nine-year-old daughter, Rose,
far from the pain and loss of the past. Here she will meet a
gifted scientist, Liam Neill, whose life is on a similar
trajectory from heartbreak to hope. And before the season is
over, Lily will find the magic that exists in people we love
the best...the everyday miracles that can make the
extraordinary happen anywhere.
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