Synopses & Reviews
A sweeping tale of two separate lives brought together in a time of historical crisis When Major Charles Davenport is evacuated to England to recuperate from a battle wound received at Tobruk, a letter is awaiting him from his wife in London, informing him that she's in love with another man and wants a divorce. Mary Kennedy is a young Irish-American who has moved to her grandparents' cottage in Ireland to mourn the loss of her husband and infant daughter. Participating in a Red Cross morale-building effort, she corresponds with a young British soldier, but his letters cease abrubtly following the fall of Tobruk. Determined to learn what has become of him she makes her way to the army hospital in Sussex where his commanding officer, Major Davenport, kindly explains the young soldier's fate. Thus begins a love story, carried out almost entirely by letter, crystallized by distance and heightened by the intimacy of the private written word set against the dramatic events of WWII and culminating in the landings on D-Day at Sword Beach.
Review
"This is fine writing . . . I can see why people are interested in this writer." —C. Michael Curtis, editor, Atlantic Monthly, on Cardigan Bay
Review
"Kerr, whose keen eye, extensive research and precise prose immerses the reader in the period, has penned a page-turning whodunit with a vividly etched central character..." — San Antonio Express-News
Review
"Kerr is a writer of great scope, whose published novels range from the social mores of Victorian England, to the horrors of trench warfare in Flanders in the First World War, and espionage in the Bahamas in the Second. But he is at his best in bringing to life the complex history of World War II in Cardigan Bay." –Irish American Magazine
Synopsis
A novel based on a true unsolved murder by poisoning in Victorian-era LondonCharles Cranbrook collapses and dies a horrific death at the Priory, the neogothic house bought with his wealthy wife Cecilia's money. Was he murdered, or did he take his own life? In the course of the inquest, it emerges that beautiful Cecilia had been involved in a scandalous affair that is the talk of London. Based on the notorious Victorian murder involving Charles and Florence Bravo and Dr. James Gully, proponent of the "water cure," this story reaches beneath the veneer of Victorian respectability and twists the ingredients of enormous fortune, sexual adventure, domestic abuse, avarice, and jealousy into a satisfying whole. Expertly researched by the author, it offers an intriguing solution to the case.
About the Author
John Kerr is a graduate of Stanford University and the University of Texas Law School. A long-time student of European and American history, he lives in San Antonio, Texas.