Lighthouse Bay

The setting of Freeman’s warmly emotional second novel (after Wildflower Hill), a port town on the coast of Queensland, Australia, takes its name from the beckoning light that has saved innumerable ships over the years. Freeman skillfully unites the stories of two women who live a century apart but both face the challenge of overcoming difficult pasts, and both under the lighthouse’s watchful presence. In 1901, Isabella Winterbourne, sole survivor of a shipwreck, arrives in Queensland carrying with her the pain of her infant son Daniel’s death prior to the disaster, as well as a hidden treasure. Lighthouse keeper Matthew Seaward might be able to teach her to love again. In the present day, Libby Slater has returned to Lighthouse Bay, alone and bereft after her married lover’s fatal aneurysm, to confront her memories. Can a stash of diaries hidden in the old lighthouse help repair the relationship between Libby and her estranged sister, Juliet? Freeman’s moving tale gives her two heroines the unique chance to make a fresh start in life. (Apr.)