Until the one thing she never expected to happen, happens. Filled with humiliation, Merrin flees her beloved hometown to forget her sorrows, but with a huge sense of regret at leaving her family behind. I loved this book with its strong themes around humanity, unexpected champions, life-affirming grace, and family love. In a blink of an eye, what she thought was a dream come true becomes an uncomfortable situation for Merrin and she chooses to leave the family and town she loves. From a trusted advisor and devoted friend of Mother Teresa comes a "powerful" ( The Washington Free Beacon) firsthand account of the miraculous woman behind the saint and a book that is "rich in reflection on contemporary sanctity" (George Weigel).

Eventually, our h has to come home for a couple of big family events - one happy and one terribly sad. She experiences a romantic relationship, but can't open up or genuinely commit because she has hardened her heart to love, on account of the jilting and all. By the end, she knows she must return to the Cornish coast to live her life in her beloved village.This book was a little outside of my comfort zone. I don't really do romance, but again, I'm not sure I can class this book as a romance either. Sure it has a wedding in it, the whole story is centred around Merrin's marriage not happening, and her later relationship with Miguel, but then again, I don't feel like the romance was ever the main factor of the story. I feel like this story circled a lot around Merrin's darkening sense of self. At the start, she's a pretty simple character. Happy, settled, and looking forward to a simple future of being a wife and a mother, but by the time the book ends, she's almost too independent, which I understand is because of Digby. I didn't like how she treated Miguel a lot of the time, when the man was clearly head over heels for her, she decided to keep him on a string, which was a little toxic in my opinion, but it added complexity to her character which is always a positive.

Merry is from a small coastal town in England. She lives with her sister, two parents, and grandmother. She and Digby, late teens/early twenties, are madly in love. He proposes, and when the wedding day arrives, something unexpected happens. Years later, Merry has left her hometown and started fresh in a bigger city. Her career grows, and she meets someone new, but it's not the same. She misses her family and friends, yet they also weigh her down, as does the stigma of what happened on her almost-wedding day. How can a beautiful, kind, generous, and wonderful young woman ever recover? This latest novel is about a Cornish family, in particular Merrin Kellow, who is in love with rich boy Digby Mortimer. Then, on what should be the happiest day of her life, Merrin's world collapses and she flees her beloved home town to escape being the subject of local gossip.

From a trusted advisor and devoted friend of Mother Teresa comes a “powerful” ( The Washington Free Beacon) firsthand account of the miraculous woman behind the saint and a book that is “rich in reflection on contemporary sanctity” (George Weigel). The sadness and grief is, at times, overwhelming. But it is also punctuated with some beautiful moments in Prowse's trademark style. I really loved this story of love and hope amongst heartbreaking events. It is truly a wonderful story and I know you will enjoy it as much as I did. I recommend this book. The timeline throughout the book did get a little confusing at the start, it felt like it was set in maybe the 50’s to start then switched to modern and took me a little while to get used to. The whole book spans 6 years, I think maybe a date or year on some chapters would have been helpful, but if this is the style of Amanda’s books, I’m sure I’ll get used to it as I read more 😊 On the cusp of beginning the next chapter of her life, Merrin is convinced her life is headed in exactly the right direction.