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The Secret Hours

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About this listen

Arethusa Clayton has always been formidable, used to getting her own way.

On her death, she leaves unexpected instructions. Instead of being buried in America, on the wealthy East Coast where she and her late husband raised their two children, Arethusa has decreed that her ashes be scattered in a remote corner of Ireland, on the hills overlooking the sea.

All Arethusa ever told Faye was that she grew up in a poor farming family and left Ireland, alone, to start a new life in America, as did so many in those times of hardship and famine. But who were her family in Ireland and where are they now? What was the real reason that she turned away from them? And who is the mysterious benefactor of a significant share of Arethusa’s estate?

Arethusa is gone. There is no one left to tell her story.

Faye feels bereft, as if her mother’s whole family has died with her. Leaving her own husband and children behind, she travels to the picturesque village of Ballinakelly, determined to fulfil her mother’s last wish and to find out the reason for Arethusa’s insistence on being laid to rest in this faraway land.

©2019 Santa Montefiore (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Women's Fiction Heartfelt Marriage
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I thoroughly enjoyed 'The Secret Hours'. A little predictable, but nevertheless most enjoyable and very we'll narrated.

A lovely summer's read

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my first ever audiobook experience! great narrator, great story. Santa Montefiore amazing as always.

Amazing!

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Amazing! Absolutely loved this! This can be read as a stand alone book but it is also the 4th book in the Castle Deverill family saga. I’ve listened to them all now and they are brilliant! I’m not sure you would get the same enjoyment from this book if you have not listened or read the previous 3 as some of the back story is skipped over a lot as many readers know it. But if you have read the previous 3, you will love this as a continuation of the story and picking up with some of the previous characters. This is a real Downton Abbey type family saga, lots of plots and stories and twists and turns. Not predictable, even this one kept me guessing right up until the end. The narration was brilliant again and I did not struggle to concentrate on this at all. Great distinction between characters. One day I will come back to these books and read them. I would thoroughly recommend if family sagas and historical fiction is your thing! This series would make a great TV adaption!

Fab family saga - very like Downton Abbey!

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I enjoyed the book, at the beginning I wasn't too interested, but it got better

nice story

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Many happy hours with this series.....a joy to listen too by an excellent narrator. Can't wait to read more !

A wonderful continuing story of The Deverills....

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