A Gathering Storm

2011. When Lucy's troubled father Tom passes away, she travels to Cornwall to visit his childhood home the once-beautiful Carlyon Manor. Before he died, Tom had been researching an uncle she never knew he had. Determined to find out why, Lucy tracks down Beatrice Ashton, a local woman who seems to know more than she lets on, and has an extraordinary story to tell . . .

1935. Growing up in Cornwall, Beatrice plays with the children of Carlyon Manor, especially pretty, blonde Angelina Wincanton. Then, one summer at the age of fifteen, she falls in love with a young visitor to the town: Rafe, whom she rescues from a storm-tossed sea.

On the surface, her life seems idyllic. But the dark clouds of war are gathering, and nobody, not even the Wincantons, will be left untouched.