#BlogTour Her Mother's Secret by Rosanna Ley

Today it is a pleasure to take part in the BlogTour for Her Mother's Secret by Rosanna Ley.  It is a thoughtful story with vivid imagery and a smorgasbord of emotions. The characters are realistic and the situations evoke empathy.

About the Author
Rosanna Ley has had six novels published by Quercus Books. She has worked as a creative writing tutor for many years and has written articles and stories for a number of national magazines. Her writing holidays and retreats take place in stunning locations in Spain and Italy. When she is not travelling, Rosanna lives in West Dorset by the sea.
Follow @RosannaLey @QuercusBooks
Visit rosannaley.com
Buy Her Mother's Secret

About the book
Escape to the heart of enchanting Brittany with the bestselling author of The Villa and The Little Theatre by the Sea. The perfect treat for fans of Santa Montefiore and Veronica Henry.

For many years Colette has avoided returning to her homeland - the magical island of Belle-Île-en-Mer in Southern Brittany - afraid to confront the painful memories she left behind. She is living on the Cornish coast when she hears about her mother Thea's failing health and realises that the time has come for her to go home. But can Colette ever forgive Thea for what she has done?

Despite Colette's wariness, romantic Belle-Île still fascinates her. She takes on the running of her mother's flower shop and makes friends with Élodie from the Old Lighthouse where Thea once worked as a nanny and with the enigmatic Étienne who shares Colette's mixed feelings about the island. As Thea opens up to her for the first time, Colette finds herself softening and being drawn back into the landscape of her past. But can Belle-Île also be a part of her future?
The ghosts of that past still linger. What happened all those years ago and how did it cause the rift between mother and daughter? It becomes clear that the beauty of Belle-Île hides a devastating family secret - one that Colette is determined to unravel at any cost.

Review
Secrets, everyone has them, but how they impact your life or psyche really depends on the secret and how much you think revealing it will change your life. I think the same applies to this story. Over time the importance of keeping certain things hidden has grown into a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Pride, emotions and fear of rejection makes it impossible to rectify mistakes of the past.

Colette is called back to the place she once called home, to the bedside of her dying mother. Saying goodbye makes her re-evaluate her own life and relationships. It also throws up some conflicts and unanswered questions from her mother's own past. Not everything is as black and white as Colette always presumed it to be.

One of the main themes of this book is being or feeling at home somewhere. Having roots and experiencing a sense of belonging or connection to a particular place. This is especially the case for people who have parents with different nationalities, people who move around a lot as children or spend their childhood in one country and the rest of their lives in another one.

It is a thoughtful story with vivid imagery and a smorgasbord of emotions. The characters are realistic and the situations evoke empathy. The descriptions of the surroundings elicit this feeling of serenity, awe-inspiring beauty and nostalgia. Not in a sense that the reader may have been there, but in a way that makes us recall our own experiences of taking in the same kind of moments in time.

Ley has created a warm and heartfelt read, despite all the secrets and accusations. It makes us aware that our parents have other identities besides that of a parent. They were lovers, friends, daughters and sons, before they became the hopefully nurturing parent. They often have a lifetime of hidden encounters and secrets tucked away inside them. I think it is safe to say we never know someone completely. We only know what they want us to see and hear.

The author plays with the emotional connections we have with each other and our loved ones, but she does so with sensitivity and compassion. I was impressed by the way she expressed the confusion one can have when it comes to feeling at home somewhere. It's like an inner siren song, sung only for that individual, and although others hear their own they can never completely comprehend what someone else hears and feels inside.

Buy Her Mother's Secret at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Paperback pub date 14 June 2018 Kindle pub date 8 March 2018