Greyfriars House Emma Fraser 9780751566116

Once a home full of love, all that remains in Greyfriars House are secrets and lies . . .

On a remote Scottish island sits Greyfriars House, a house haunted by unspoken words and family mysteries. But once it was a happy and comforting place and in the summer of 1939, family and friends gather to forget their fears about the impending war. Nine-year-old Olivia watches the grown-ups with fascination particularly her mother and her two aunts, the three daughters of the family who own the island. Then Olivia she sees something she isn't meant to and when the truth comes out it reverberates through the generations.

Almost fifty years later, Olivia has fallen ill and urges her own daughter, Charlotte, to visit Greyfriars to reconnect the existing branches of the family. Charlotte is hesitant to get to know her great-aunts, women who have always shunned her mother, but curiosity and a desire to run from her own life get the better of her and she goes to the island.

But Greyfriars House is a shadow of its former self and Charlotte finds her great-aunts tense and cautious. There is something they want to share with Charlotte, but in order to truly understand their secret Charlotte must first understand what happened to them before and during the war . . .

Emma Fraser emigrated to Africa with her Gaelic-speaking parents when she was nine years old and remembers lying in bed and listening to her father playing the bagpipes. She returned to the Western Isles of Scotland years later and went on to qualify as a nurse, working in Edinburgh and Glasgow before leaving to study English Literature at Aberdeen University.

Emma began writing when her daughters started school and she has published three historical novels, two of which were shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Her third book, The Shipbuilder's Daughter, was inspired by, as always, true events - this time by the Glasgow shipyards where her grandfather once worked.

Keep up to date with Emma by following her on Twitter (@EmmaFraserBooks) or becoming her friend on Facebook (www.facebook.com/emmafraserauthor).