Lost Castle

Broken-down walls and crumbling stones seemed to possess a secret language all their own. What stories would they tell, if she finally listened? Ellie Carver arrives at her grandmother's bedside expecting to find her silently slipping away. Instead, the beloved woman begins speaking. Of a secret past and castle ruins forgotten by time. Of a hidden chapel that served as a rendezvous for the French Resistance in World War II. Of lost love and deep regret . . . Each piece that unlocks the story seems to unlock part of Ellie too-where she came from and who she is becoming. But her grandmother is quickly disappearing into the shadows of Alzheimer's and Ellie must act fast if she wants to uncover the truth of her family's history. Drawn by the mystery surrounding The Sleeping Beauty-a castle so named for Charles Perrault's beloved fairy tale-Ellie embarks on a journey to France's Loire Valley in hopes that she can unearth its secrets before time silences them forever. Bridging the past to the present in three time periods-the French Revolution, World War II, and present day-The Lost Castle is a story of loves won and lost, of battles waged in the hearts of men, and of an enchanted castle that stood witness to it all, inspiring a legacy of faith through the generations.

A storied castle. A band of rebels. A nation chasing a centuries-old dream of freedom. And three women who rise above it all . . . When Laine Forrester travels overseas to attend her best friend's vineyard wedding, she expects to find the bride on the brink of a fairy-tale life. But after a series of unforeseen setbacks, it seems the storybook lives they'd imagined are suddenly ripping apart. With hopes of resurrecting a happy ending, Laine agrees to accompany the newlyweds to the groom's home in Ireland-never expecting she'd be the one drawn in by its wide-open moors, backroads bordering the Irish Sea, and a mysterious castle that dares to keep its secrets hidden. From the storied streets of Dublin to the shores of the Emerald Isle, Laine is drawn in to the land and its rich history. The castle ruins whisper stories of Issy-a photojournalist battling through the 1916 Easter Rising, and Maeve-the castle's lady of legend, fighting for survival through the 1798 rebellion that started it all. Spanning more than two centuries, Castle on the Rise unites the legacy of three women who must risk mending the broken places within for life, love, and the belief that even through the depths of our pain, a masterpiece of a story can emerge.

A lost painting of Queen Victoria. A library bricked off from the world. And three women, separated by time, whose lives are irrevocably changed. When art historian Keira Foley is hired to authenticate a painting at a centuries-old East Suffolk manor, she hopes this is just the thing to get her career and life back on track. But from the time she arrives at Parham Hill Estate and begins working alongside rumored art thief Emory Scott, she's left with far more questions than answers. Could this lost painting of Queen Victoria be a duplicate of the original Winterhalter masterpiece, and if so, who is the artist? As Keira begins to unravel the mystery behind the portrait, two women emerge from the estate's forgotten past. In Victorian England, talented sketch artist Elizabeth Meade is engaged to Viscount Huxley, then owner of Parham Hill. However, Elizabeth's real motive for being at Parham Hill has nothing to do with art or marriage. She's determined to avenge her father's brutal murder-even if it means a betrothal to the very man she believes committed the crime. A century later, Amelia Woods-a World War II widow who has turned Parham Hill and its beloved library into a boarding school for refugee children-receives military orders to house a troop of American pilots. She is determined the children in her care will remain untouched by the war, but the task is proving difficult with officers taking up every square inch of their world . . . and one in particular vying for a space in Amelia's long-shut up heart. Set in three time periods-the rapid change of Victorian England, the peak of England's home-front tensions at the end of WWII, and modern day-The Painted Castle unfolds a story of heartache and hope and unlocks secrets lost for generations just waiting to be found.