Book Blurb:
Santo Innis is developing a revolutionary new engine to counter the lethal effects of high-pressure steam. His backer is Richard Vaughan, heir to Frederick Tregarron, owner of Gillyvean estate.
Following the tragic deaths of his wife and baby son, Richard immersed himself in work. But his world is turned upside down by the unexpected arrival at Gillyvean of Melanie Tregarron, a talented artist and Frederick’s illegitimate youngest daughter.
Desperate to prove the viability of his invention, Santo persuades Richard to let him fit one at Gillyvean’s brewhouse.
But when Bronnen Jewell – worried about her mother’s suffering at her father’s hands – arrives to brew the harvest beer she’s horrified, fearing loss of the income on which she depends.
As the lives of these four become entwined, a shocking revelation shatters Bronnen’s world; desperate for money Santo makes a choice that costs him everything; Melanie fears she will never be free of her past; and Richard has to face his deepest fear.
Excerpt:
Sarah pulled a chair from under the kitchen table and lowered herself wearily onto it. Morley, Adam and the two labourers were busy about the farm. Bronnen had gone to Curnock’s brewery for yeast. Apart from the ticking clock and the shifting embers in the range the house was silent.
She drew Mary Passmore’s letter from her bodice, the only safe place she had been able to think of, and thought back to the day of Bronnen’s birth.
Cradling the little pink body she had caught a tiny waving hand and kissed it, marvelling at the swirl of silky black hair as she smiled through her tears at the kitten-like cries. The surge of love that engulfed her was so powerful she had feared her heart would burst.
She drew a deep shaky breath. She must write a note of condolence to the Passmores. They would expect a response. Please God let that be the end of it. The truth had been buried so deep for so long she had almost forgotten. Now Mary’s letter brought it all back. It was far too late to wish she had done things differently.
Rising stiffly from the table she used the iron hook to lift the cover from the firebox and dropped the letter onto the glowing coals. She could not pretend it hadn’t come. Nor could she shake off a terrible sense of foreboding.
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Author bio:
Jane Jackson has been a professional writer for over thirty years, and twice shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Crosscurrents is her twenty-eighth published novel.
Happily married to a Cornishman, with children and grandchildren, she has lived in Cornwall most of her life, finding inspiration for her books in the county’s magnificent scenery and fascinating history.
She enjoys reading, research, long walks, baking, and visiting Cornish agricultural shows where her husband displays his collection of 28 (and counting) restored vintage rotavators.
Website: http://www.janejackson.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JaneJacksonAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JJacksonAuthor
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