The Cottage on the Border
by Hannah
Warren
BLURB:
Jenna's
earliest memory is of her mother's feet dangling in dust motes, as a three year
old left orphaned while her mother's corpse hung from a beam. Her mother
committed suicide, that's how she escaped and freed herself. When her own life
falls apart Jenna's earliest memory becomes her anchor, she too wants to be
free.
Vincent Van Son is
Jenna's adopted brother, her psychiatrist, perhaps her only friend. He takes
her to the Cottage for recovery, determined to rescue his sister from herself
after her failed suicide attempt. The cottage on the border is at Oud Land, and
is the location of many dark secrets.
Jenna's close call with
death leaves her open to the psychic world, and in this cottage in the onset of
a misty winter, Jenna hears them, the voices of the past, memories of what
happened on the border. It becomes a journey to herself. She has to listen, to
witness, she has no choice. Their stories are her story, and it is a long heritage
of murder, deceit, ethnic discourse and betrayal.
Perspective returns to
the introspective prima ballerina, she has learned the truth of her family, of
this cottage of psychic confessions. She alone emerges from the rubble of six
decades of troubled family history, a lone phoenix.
The Cottage on The
Border is a tale of murder, mystery, intrigue, familial despair, heartbreak,
and spiritual resurrection.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
Markus pushed a chair to the cupboard to fetch a glass for
his mother. Dragging the chair to the sink, he managed to fill it from the tap.
His eyes big with worry, he handed the drink to his mother. Isobel’s teeth
clattered against the glass; her bald head looked small on her long neck. After
all the shouting and yelling, silence seemed to finally sink in, but it was
only a semblance of peace.
“Mummy,” Markus suddenly shrieked. “The barn is burning.”
With hardly the power to stand, Isobel got to her feet and
went to the window. Flames were coming out of the thatched roof. Somewhere she
found the Herculean power to run upstairs and haul down a brown chest.
“Run, Markus,” she ordered, and together they made their way
out the front door.
Flames were licking their way around the main house already.
Mother and son stood on the lawn, watching their beloved farmhouse fall to
ruins. No one came to help while beasts and every stick of furniture were
swallowed by the mad fire. With all else that died in that fire, something also
died in five-year-old Markus, there and then. Something with no name but years
later would be identified as a numb hatred, carved deeply, permanently, into
his soul.
I can't even start as to what this book left me feeling. The characters the plot, the realistic feeling of it all. The emotions the entire book will have you drawn in from the beginning. There's not one page that won't have you intrigued... Absolutely loved this book!
*Received for an honest review*
*Received for an honest review*
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Hannah Warren was born in Paris (Fr.) in 1956 as a second child to
a Dutch father and an English mother. She has lived in The Netherlands almost
all her life but maintains strong ties with her own favourite triangle: France,
UK and Holland.
Hannah studied Dutch literature and Mass Communication at the
University of Amsterdam and later obtained a B.A. in English Literature and
Language and a B.A. in Translation from Rotterdam University. After having been
a lecturer and a translator for many years, she now works as a staff member at
the International Office of HZ University of Applied Sciences in Vlissingen.
Her free-time is taken up by writing fiction and doing Yoga. She
also likes going on long hikes while listening to audiobooks. After having been
a single mum for nearly two decades, her three children have flown the nest.
The great sadness that befell Hannah in March 2014 was the loss of her eldest
child, daughter Joy, who died after an intense two-year struggle against bile
duct cancer. Currently her second child, son Ivor, is fighting a brain tumour.
Her whole life and the future of her children (-in-law) is totally upside down.
Writing fiction is Hannah’s main outlet in her grief.
From the age of 8, Ms Warren has written poetry, novels and short
stories but it took her over 50 years to become a published author. In the past
four years she signed with two small Indie publishing houses, who released
Hannah’s first two novels, a literary romance and a suspenseful family
saga. She is currently writing the
sequel to the second book and also a five-book series about five generations of
daughters between 1876 and 2015. Hannah found her niche in writing fictional
stories about strong women who lead challenging lives.
Hannah is very happy to have been accepted by the Irish publishing
house Tirgearr Publishing in March 2015. On 22 May Tirgearr published Hannah’s
two earlier published books Casablanca, My Heart and The Cottage on The Border,
first book in The Jenna Kroon Series.
Links:
Website and blog: www.hannahwarrenauthor.com
Tirgearr author site with links to books:
http://www.tirgearrpublishing.com/authors/Warren_Hannah/index.htm
FB author page: http://on.fb.me/1MYgP5Q
Twitter: http://bit.ly/1FqXlpN
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1CJNNUE
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