📖 Featured Book of the Month ~ The Hidden Letters by Lorna Cook

 

Avon
2 March 2023

My thanks to the publishers for the invitation to read this book

On the eve of a world war, a forbidden love will blossom in the garden of a stately home and one young woman will make a choice that will change her life forever…

As the storm clouds of war gather, Cordelia seeks refuge in the grounds of her family estate.

Isaac has recently arrived to tend to the gardens, and the connection between him and Cordelia is as immediate as it is forbidden.

Isaac begins to secretly teach her how to cultivate the gardens, so when he and all the young men are called away to war, Cordelia takes over.

From the battlefields of Europe, Isaac sends her letters, that give her hope for a future in peacetime.

But when these messages abruptly cease, Cordelia must face up to the worst and take her future – and the fate of the garden they both loved – into her own hands...

📖 My Review...

Isaac Leigh has been employed to make improvements to the garden at Pencallick House and under normal circumstances would never come into contact with Cordelia Carr-Lyon who, as the daughter of the big house, has limitations placed upon her, and a burgeoning friendship with a handsome gardener is strictly out of bounds. However, the country is on the brink of war and social restrictions whilst still in place seem to melt into insignificance as Isaac and Cordelia gradually get to know each other. It is this secret friendship and clandestine bond which must sustain their relationship through some deeply troubling times especially as the storm clouds of WW1 gather their inevitable momentum over Europe. 

Lorna Cook writes the most wonderfully detailed historical dramas which are filled with an abundance of emotions, from love and passion, through to sadness and despair and, believe me, there were many times during this beautiful novel when I had to reach for the tissue box. The story moves from the wild and windswept Cornish coast, to war ravaged Europe and from stately manor house to humble cottages and all the while keeping at its heart a love story which beguiles, entertains and tugs away at the heartstrings.

The Hidden Letters is every bit as good as I hoped it would be from this talented author and I have no hesitation in making it my Featured Book of the Month for March.

About the Author

Lorna Cook is the author of the Kindle bestseller The Forgotten Village. It was her debut novel and the recipient of the Romantic Novelists' Association Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers as well as winner of the Katie Fforde Debut Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Lorna lives in coastal South East England with her husband and two daughters.

Twitter @lornacookauthor

@AvonBooksUK

The Hidden Letters is published today by Avon Books

 and is available from wherever you buy your books.