Fiction, Romance

All We Hold Dear

Name: All We Hold Dear
Author: Kathryn L. Davis
ISBN: 9780671736033

by Kathryn L. Davis

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Overview

In the spring of 1988, on a small Scottish island battered into stark beauty by the motion of the sea, Eva Crawford turns eighteen and learns a disturbing fact that shatters the comfort and stability of her life. Confused and bewildered, she leaves her safe childhood home and sets out on a journey of discovery - to unearth the truth about herself, her mother, and her family. In an austere Glasgow bedroom, Eva finds a worn, yellowed journal and a faded scrap of ribbon - the only clues to her lost heritage. As she opens the journal, she is spellbound by the story of her ancestors ... women who, beginning with Ailsa Rose one hundred years earlier, had set out on their own remarkable journeys. Ailsa Rose Sinclair found contentment as a wife and mother in Victorian London, but it was the exotic paradise of Glen Affric that nourished and sustained her soul. There, her mother, Mairi Rose, awaited her ... as did Ian Fraser, Ailsa's first love, left behind years before. As progress threatened the healing beauty of the glen, Ailsa and Ian confronted their own demons, old loyalties, and new betrayals ... and the passion they had so long denied. Alanna Sinclair, Ailsa's beloved daughter, was raised in London but, like her mother, returned always to the rushing waters, to the peace and promise of the glen. There she met David Fraser and knew from the moment her eyes met his what it was to love with perfect abandon. Yet the strongest love could not protect any of them from the pain of a devastating tragedy.... One hundred years later, Eva Crawford pieces together fragments of herself from the stories of these women, and seeks to uncover more in the lush beauty of Glen Affric. Only if she can comprehend the frailty and sorrow of Celia, the mother who abandoned her but whose memory will not give her peace, can Eva begin to forgive. Only then can she move toward a future that will give voice to the melodies and rhythms that sing in her soul. Then she may be free to love the cle

During the spring of 1988, on a small Scottish island, 18-year-old Eva Crawford leaves her childhood home to unearth the truth about herself, her mother, and her family. In a spare Glasgow bedroom, Eva finds a worn yellowed journal and a faded scrap of ribbon. She is soon spellbound by the story of her ancestors. Each had to confront their own demons, old loyalties and new betrayals, as a devastating tragedy loomed.

About the Author, Kathryn L. Davis

Kathryn Lynn Davis is the New York Times bestselling author of several books including Too Deep for Tears, All We Hold Dear, and Somewhere Lies the Moon, all available from Pocket Books. She lives with her husband in Riverside, California.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Readers who loved the bestselling Too Deep for Tears will also be ensnared by this ambitious sequel, once they swallow such overwritten sentences as the novel's opening line: ``The sea sang and snarled and wept in a voice that echoed the ancient cry of mermaids in their shimmering isolation.'' Davis returns to beautiful, wild Glen Affric in the Scottish highlands as the primary setting of her passionate story about a young girl's search for the truth about her ancestors. The novel, which alternates between the 20th and 19th centuries, opens in 1988 on a small Scottish island where-on her 18th birthday and at the request of her biological mother, Celia Ward, who died many years ago-Eva Crawford is told by her parents that she was adopted as a baby. In a letter to Eva, Celia invites her daughter to learn more about her past by contacting her friend, Eilidh, in Glasgow. There Eilidh gives her Celia's ebony Chinese chest, which contains a journal written by one of Eva's ancestors, Ailsa Rose, in 1882. The journal, which unfolds in sections throughout the novel, depicts the colorful inhabitants in Glen Affric, a place of extraordinary raw beauty. Davis's 19th-century characters are so richly drawn that it's difficult to leave them when she returns to the less colorful Eva. Still, the intertwining of the two times creates an affecting story. Major ad/promo; Simon & Schuster Audio. (May)

Denise Perry Donavin

Davis' young heroine, Eva Crawford, travels from her childhood home in the Hebrides to the Highlands of Scotland because of the startling revelation that the solid folk Eva always believed to be her parents had adopted her as an infant. They were deliberately selected by Eva's dying mother, Celia Ward, in the belief that their down-to-earth qualities could combat the fey nature of her own ancestors. Ironically, Eva, blessed with second sight and the ability to commune with nature, grew up wondering why she felt so different from her peers and parents. Eva's mother also left a family chest filled with journals. So the search is interspersed with stories of the loves, losses, and battles of the family in the glen. This diverting tale is neatly spun, yet the overwhelming power of the land upon the senses is played far beyond the hilt. Still, sentimental readers, especially those who enjoyed the prequel "Too Deep for Tears" (1988), will savor this historical romance.