THE SECRET HOURS

By Santa Montefiore

Synopsis

Arethusa Clayton has always been used to getting her own way. On her death, she leaves unexpected instructions. Instead of being buried in America, Arethusa has decreed that her ashes be scattered in a remote corner of Ireland, on the hills overlooking the sea. So her daughter, Faye travels to the village of Ballinakelly, determined to fulfil her mother’s last wish and to find out the reason for Arethusa’s insistence on being laid to rest in this faraway land.

Sample Player

Narrator	Genevieve Swallow
Length	17hrs
Catalogue No.	13589
Publisher	Clipper Audio; 2019

Other audiobooks by Santa Montefiore

THE AFFAIR

Angelica has the world at her feet: a gorgeous French husband, two beautiful children and a successful career. One night at a gossipy dinner party, Angelica’s husband harmlessly flirts with another woman and Angelica herself encounters Jack, a handsome and charismatic man from South Africa. Angelica and Jack are irrevocably drawn together and cannot ignore the sparks that fly between them. From her glamorous life in London, to the lush vineyards of South Africa, Angelica finds herself on a journey that will risk all she has worked for.

THE BEEKEEPER'S DAUGHTER

Dorset, 1932: Grace Hamblin, the only child of the beekeeper, is in love with a man whom she knows she can never have. Massachusetts, 1973: Grace's beautiful, impetuous daughter Trixie Valentine is in love. Then tragedy strikes and both mother and daughter must confront the past, and unravel the lies told long ago...

THE BUTTERFLY BOX

Frederica Campione adores her Chilean father so is devastated when her parents separate and she is forced to live in Cornwall with her mother. Trying to recapture a sense of security she embarks on a seemingly perfect marriage but endures years of heartbreak.

DAUGHTERS OF CASTLE DEVERILL

It is 1925 and the war is long over, but Castle Deverill, ancestral home to the Deverill family in Ireland, has burned to the ground. Young Celia Deverill is determined to restore the sad ruin to it's former glory. But as the financial markets start to shake, everything that felt so certain is thrown once again into doubt… Book 2 of the series.

THE DISTANT SHORES

Margot Hart travels to Ireland to write a biography of the famous Deverill family. She knows she must speak to the current Lord Deverill – JP – if she is to uncover the secrets of the past. A notorious recluse, JP won’t be an easy man to crack. But Margot is determined – and she is not a woman who is easily put off. What she never expected was to form a close bond with JP and be drawn into his family disputes. Shouldering the blame for running up debts that forced him to sell the family castle, JP is isolated and vulnerable. With help from his handsome son Colm, it seems as though Margot might be the only one who can restore JP’s fortunes. Will the family ever succeed in healing rifts that have been centuries in the making?

FLAPPY ENTERTAINS

Flappy Scott-Booth is the self-appointed queen bee of Badley Compton. While her husband Kenneth spends his days on the golf course, she is busy overseeing her beautiful house and gardens, and organising unforgettable events. Her life is a reflection of herself – impossibly perfect. Until the day that Hedda Harvey-Smith and her husband Charles move into the village. Into an even grander home than hers. Flappy is determined to show Hedda how things are done here in Badley Compton. But then she looks into Charles’s beautiful green eyes. And suddenly, her focus is elsewhere. She is only human, after all…

THE FORGET-ME-NOT SONATA

The Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires is a little piece of England. Here the Anglo-Argentinean community devour gossip as eagerly as the scones and Earl Grey tea. And it is here that Audrey Garnet loses her heart to Louis Forrester, the talented, troubled composer who sets tongues wagging with his eccentricities and chequered past...

THE FRENCH GARDENER

Married couple, Miranda and David, move out of London into a beautiful country house with an idyllic garden. But reality turns out to be very different from their bucolic dream, and the latent unhappiness in the family begins to come to the surface. Then a mysterious Frenchman arrives on their doorstep. With the wisdom of nature, he slowly begins to heal the past and the present. But who is he?

HERE AND NOW

Marigold has spent her life taking care of those around her, and being an all-round leader in her quiet yet welcoming community. When she finds herself forgetting things, everyone quickly puts it down to her age. But something about Marigold isn’t quite right, and as Marigold’s condition worsens, her family must find ways to care for the woman who has always cared for them. Desperate to show their support, the local community comes together to celebrate Marigold and to show her that losing your memories doesn’t matter when there are people who will remember them for you....

THE ITALIAN MATCHMAKER

Gianluca's life is empty. His City job, his seven-figure income, his glossy girlfriends - all have long ceased to satisfy him. His marriage is over and he barely knows his young daughters. In search of serenity and a deeper purpose, he flees to Italy. But life on the sun-drenched Amalfi coast is not as peaceful as Luca anticipates...

THE KISS

Madison has always known she had a different father to her siblings. But it wasn’t until she turned eighteen that she learned his name. And now she wants to meet the man who shares her fair hair and blue eyes. Robert is a very lucky man. A big house, beautiful wife, three handsome sons. Eighteen years ago, he made a mistake. A brief fling that resulted in a daughter nobody else knows about. Robert must finally tell his family the truth. Will they ever be able to forgive him and accept Madison as one of their own?

THE LAST SECRET OF THE DEVERILLS

Bridie Doyle, now mistress of Castle Deverill, is determined to make the castle she used to work in her home. But her flamboyant husband Cesare has other ideas. Meanwhile, Kitty Deverill has come to terms with her life with her husband Robert. But then Jack O’Leary, the love of her life, returns… Book 3 of the series.

LAST VOYAGE OF THE VALENTINA

Italy, 1945. The war is over but deep in the lush countryside an eccentric aristocrat is savagely murdered in his beautiful palazzo. London, 1971. Years later, this unsolved crime touches the life of Alba, a hedonistic girl who lives on a houseboat in swinging Chelsea. The past unfolds revealing a secret web of partisans and Nazis, peasants and counts and in the centre of it all, an alluring woman of mystery: her mother…

MEET ME UNDER THE OMBU TREE

Sofia Solanas grows up on a beautiful ranch in the middle of the Argentine pampa. When her mother, Anna, discovers that Sofia has embarked on a forbidden love affair, she sends her to Europe – away from her friends and family and the man Sofia loves. But then, more than twenty years later, a family tragedy calls Sofia home, and she must discover if her passion still lives on …

THE ROYAL RABBITS OF LONDON

Shylo has always been the weakest and quietest of all of his family, but when he stumbles across a band of ratzis and overhears their evil plan to take a photo of the Queen in her nightie, it's up to this unlikely hero to travel to London and inform the Royal Rabbits of London about the diabolicial plot!

SONGS OF LOVE AND WAR

West Cork, Ireland, 1900. The year marks the start of a new century, and the birth of three very different women: Together they grow up in the dreamy grounds of the family's grand estate, Castle Deverill. Yet their peaceful way of life will soon be threatened by Ireland's struggle for independence. First book of the series.

THE SUMMER HOUSE

When her husband, George, dies in a tragic accident, Antoinette's world falls apart. As she arrives at the church for his funeral, she sees an unfamiliar woman. Phaedra loved George too, and as she sits before his wife, she knows that what she is about to reveal will change their lives forever.

THE SWALLOW AND THE HUMMINGBIRD

When George Bolton returns home to Devon at the end of the war, Rita assumes that her childhood sweetheart will marry her and that their future will be a reassuring continuation of their past. But the boy who joined the RAF has come back a man, and a man irrevocably changed by the horrors that he has seen...

THE TEMPTATION OF GRACIE

Gracie Burton, living quietly in Devon, has rarely left the village over the past forty years. But when she stumbles upon an advertisement for a weeklong cookery course in the heart of the Tuscan countryside, she cannot resist and ploughs her life savings into the trip. Her daughter Carina and 17-year old grandaughter Anastasia accompany her, but they have no idea that Gracie is harbouring the secret of an extraordinary life that preceded them…