The Road Home

In this enjoyable contemporary, Way (Her Australian Cattle Baron) combines romance with a decades-old mystery and the dazzling beauty of the Australian outback. Bruno McKendrick is a successful businessman who attends a party near Sydney Harbor and sees an extremely beautiful cellist, Isabelle Martin. She looks exactly like Helena Hartmann, a missing woman whom Bruno’s father Ross, a private investigator, was searching for years ago. When Bruno approaches the ethereal Isabelle, he is disappointed to learn that she is not related to the wealthy Hartmann family. After Bruno shows Isabelle pictures of Helena, she is startled by the incredible likeness and starts asking her parents about her birth. Her mother’s defensiveness and shockingly evil response are almost too sinister to be believable. The secrets behind Helena’s disappearance are slowly revealed as Bruno and Isabelle travel to the Hartmanns’ remote homestead seeking answers about her parentage. Somewhat predictably, Hartmann family members believe that Isabelle is pretending to be Helena in order to gain part of their wealth. The mystery behind Helena’s disappearance propels the novel forward at a swift pace as romantic tension heats up between Bruno and Isabelle, and readers will eagerly follow them to the satisfying ending. (Nov.)