Love Will Find a Way
In the quiet town of Cliffehaven, a newborn infant mysteriously appears in the crib of the parish church in the lead-up to Christmas 1946. Fortunately, baby Noel, as he is named, is found within moments of his abandonment, leading those in the community to understand that this little boy’s mum has astute local knowledge of the area. With the festive season fast approaching, there is added pressure on every household to make this a Christmas to remember, especially as it is the first when many can properly gather after the traumas associated with the Second World War. However, being in such close proximity leads to added stresses for those who have a secret to guard. As in any close-knit community, a discovery of this nature leads to great speculation, heightened if some of the key players begin to act out of character. The lives of Peggy Reilly and her extended family are quite intertwined, and as a sequel to several stories based on them, it can be somewhat confusing to make the links initially. The nuggets of information required to delve deeper into solving this mystery are gradually uncovered, allowing Peggy to convene a ‘council of war’ before some of the cast depart once the celebrations have ended.
Ellie Dean has achieved a following in the years since she first chose this fictional community as the setting for her stories, managing to develop their characters further, whilst also allowing the new reader to temporarily dip into their lives. There are some lovely descriptive passages about the local area, though the occasional slip regarding daylight hours in the depths of winter is unfortunate.
