In this fine debut, Laura Denton crafts a beautiful, heartbreaking story of true love that never dies. Margaret Van Buren was a young socialite growing up in post-war Alabama who married the man chosen for her. After enduring his unfaithfulness for years, she decided to flee to Sweet Bay, Ala. There she discovered the Hideaway, a B and B that became her refuge. Though Margaret longed for an “uncomplicated love,” instead she found a devastating love that changed her forever. Her life was a mystery to most, but her death opened up many secrets she had hidden. Margaret wills the Hideaway to her only granddaughter, Sara, with one request: that she refurbish the quaint B and B to its former glory. When Sara receives news of Margaret’s death and her ownership of the Hideaway, she is stunned. Leaving her New Orleans antique shop behind, she immediately begins work on the old house. During Sara’s extended visit to her childhood home, she longs to know the woman she had believed was eccentric, realizing that she had never bothered to look behind the protective wall that surrounded her grandmother. While cleaning out the attic, Sara discovers an old box that unveils many secrets of a Margaret she never truly knew. This book will please inspirational, contemporary, and historical fans alike.
Lauren Denton. Thomas Nelson, $15.99 trade paper (352) ISBN 978-0-7180-8422-6
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