Good morning everyone and happy Tuesday. Today on Two For Tuesday I’m featuring two books from Karen Swan.
I am a huge fan of this series and have grown very fond of the characters, particularly the three main women. I especially liked the wonderful descriptions of St Kilda and what it was like living there. The Lost Lover is the third book in The Wild Isles series.
Huge thanks to the lovely @libraryofchlo from @panmacmillan for sending me a copy of this book.
The Lost Lover is out 18th July 2024 and you can find out more about it below. The other books in the series are available now.
What’s your favourite series?
The Lost Lover by Karen Swan
An epic, sweeping historical novel of second chances and lovers reunited . . .
Flora MacQueen has always dreamt of more than life on the small Scottish island of St Kilda. So, when she catches the eye of visiting adventurer and wealthy businessman James Callaghan, her future seems brighter. Winter seas separate the lovers, but the island’s evacuation the following summer promises to reunite them – until tragedy strikes.
Heartbroken and needing to support her family on the mainland, a chance meeting offers hope. Soon, Flora is the toast of glamorous Paris; fame and fortune are hers for the taking. But at a high price.
When a scandal erupts back home, Flora is implicated, along with her friends Effifie and Mhairi. But as dark secrets come to light, it is a lie by a fellow islander that changes everything . . .
The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan
A reluctant bride. A forbidden romance. An island full of secrets . . .
It’s the summer of 1929 and Mhairi MacKinnon is in need of a husband. As the eldest girl among nine children, her father has made it clear he can’t support her past the coming winter. On the small, Scottish island of St Kilda, her options are limited. But the MacKinnons’ neighbour, Donald, has a business acquaintance on distant Harris also in need of a spouse. A plan is hatched for Donald to chaperone Mhairi and make the introduction on his final crossing of the year, before the autumn seas close them off to the outside world.
Mhairi returns as an engaged woman who has lost her heart – but not to her fiancé. In love with the wrong man yet knowing he can never be hers, she awaits the spring with growing dread, for the onset of calm waters will see her sent from home to become a stranger’s wife.
When word comes that St Kilda is to be evacuated, the lovers are granted a few months’ reprieve, enjoying a summer of stolen hours together. Only, those last days on St Kilda will also bring trauma and heartache for Mhairi and her friends, Effie and Flora. And when a dead body is later found on the abandoned isle, all three have reason enough to find themselves under the shadow of suspicion . . .
The Stolen Hours is Book Two in Karen Swan’s bestselling Wild Isle Series.
About The Author:
Karen Swan is the Sunday Times Top Three and international best-selling author. Her novels sell all over the world and she writes two books each year – one for the summer period and one for the Christmas season. Her books are known for their evocative locations and Karen sees travel as vital research for each story. She loves to set deep, complicated love stories within twisting plots.
The Last Summer is the first book in her five-book historical series called The Wild Isle Girls, set around the dramatic evacuation of the Scottish island St Kilda in the summer of 1930. It was partly inspired by Karen’s Scottish roots: her father’s family came from Skye, moving to Fort William where Karen was christened and where many of her family still live. Her childhood memories are full of Christmases, Hogmanay and summer holidays spent in the Highlands and she was married there in 2001.
She lives in Sussex with her husband, three children and two dogs.
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