Grindstone
Grindstone, a small island in the Saint Lawrence River near the Canadian border, forms the picturesque backdrop for Donna Walsh Inglehart’s atmospheric and very moving new novel Grindstone (beautifully produced by Troubadour Interactive). On Grindstone is Irish immigrant Anya MacGregor, living out a lonely existence waiting for her brother Finn to return from the American Civil War. But the Civil War ends up finding its way to Anya; in Inglehart’s graceful, confident narrative, a fugitive from the Confederacy enters Anya’s life.
His name is Jonathon Douglas, and he was one of the “incendiaries” who set off a series of firebombs in New York City in 1864. Anya and Jonathon are attracted to each other, and Inglehart has set in place a complex web of factors to complicate their story.
The novel’s various plot lines are smoothly calibrated to touch the heartstrings, with well-timed jolts of excitement thrown in, and the book’s ending, the fate of Anya’s heart, is beautifully realized.
Highly recommended.
