Ava disappoints her family when she elopes with child psychologist Matthew Frazier and moves to his ancestral home on Saint Simon's Island, off the coast of Georgia. Despite their love-at-first sight, fairy-tale relationship, Ava is shocked to learn after their honeymoon that Matthew is a widower and that his first wife's family believes that he is responsible for Adrienna's untimely death. As Ava works to make the house her own, she is bothered by the secrets that seem to surround the Frazier family.
Ava has always felt incomplete and slightly like an outsider in her own family. The youngest child by many years, she is the only daughter of a devoted, but unaffectionate, mother who always seemed to keep her at arms length emotionally, and in fact refused to see her off to her new life after Matthew and she announced their marriage. Ava has always been hurt that photographs from her infancy seem to have disappeared and bothered by how disconnected she feels from her older brothers. Her high hopes for her new marriage are tempered by her worries about Matthew's past and the many mysteries lurking in his family tree. She joins family friend (and strangely, her brother's ex-wife) in the local historical society, investigating the local cemeteries and unearthing more questions than answers.
I love the connection between Ava and Matthew, their complete trust (with a few glitches) and devotion to each other. I would describe this as part romance, part historical fiction, part mystery, maybe with a little bit of ghost story and possible reincarnation thrown in. It was also completely enjoyable. I'm so glad that I discovered Karen White!
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