The Stargazers (Hardback)

Harriet Evans returns with an unputdownable tale of the infinite possibilities of familes - how they can anchor you or unseat you - and why unconditional love holds the key to true freedom.

A must-read for lovers of Kate Morton, Lucinda Riley and Santa Montefiore.

How can you ever know yourself when you were deprived of love as a child? It's the 1970s, and Sarah has spent a lifetime trying to bury her disjointed childhood, the loneliness of her school days, and Fane, the vast and crumbling family home so loved - and hated - by her mother, Iris, a woman as cruel as she is beautiful.

Sarah's solace has been her cello and the music that allowed her to dream, transporting her from the bleakness of those early years to a new life now with Daniel, her husband, in their noisy Hampstead home surrounded by bohemian friends and with a concert career that has brought her fame and restored a sense of self.

The past, though, has a habit of creeping into the present, and as long as Sarah tries to escape, it seems the pull of Fane, her mother, and the secrets of the generations hidden there, are slowly being revealed, threatening to unravel the fragile happiness she enjoys in the here and now. Sarah will need to travel back to Fane to confront her childhood and search for the true meaning of home.

Deliciously absorbing and rich with character and atmosphere, The Stargazers is the story of a house, a family, and the legacies of childhoods fractured through time and inheritance.