The Boatman's Wife(86)
The women rowed the last haul of seaweed for the day back to the Connie. The lowering sun picked up strands of red in Niamh’s grey hair as she smiled at her daughter-in-law. Lily had received so much strength and solace from the love and companionship of the two generations of her husband’s women over the past few months. Both she and Rosemary had suggested to Niamh she might take a trip down to Cape Cod and visit Jesse’s boatyard. Lily had looked him up online. But Niamh couldn’t even bear to look at his website.
‘How can I?’ she had said to Lily. ‘After all this time.’ She’d shaken her head. ‘It would be different if Connor were still alive.’
Which of them was grieving Connor most deeply? All of them, but in different ways.
Niamh and Lily lifted their haul of seaweed onto the deck of the Connie and climbed on board after tethering the row boat to the back. They stripped off their wetsuits, pulling on cotton sweaters and denim shorts.
Lily steered the boat back towards land, and watched Niamh sitting up in the bow, her arms hugging her knees, and her long grey hair blowing in the breeze.
When they moored at their own little landing, Rosemary would have the racks ready for them to lay the bladderwrack out on to dry in the Maine sunshine. The forecast was good for the next day. Back at the house, there might be the smell of Lily’s mom’s baking – she often came over to help Rosemary with baby Cormac, although Rosemary was a wonder with him. There would the tap-tap of Rosemary’s keyboard in her room, and later, the baby would be sheltered by the big willow at the water’s edge, while Lily and Niamh took little dips in the cold sea. That night, there would be stargazing, wrapped up in light blankets, listening to the crickets and inhaling the scent of all the roses Lily had planted in the garden. Maine summers were the best.
The small boat Connie kept on chugging towards shore, as the sun sank behind them, reflections of gold, orange and violet scattered upon the water like a magnificent abstract painting. Lily would keep on going, as long she had land in sight.
If you were swept away by The Boatman’s Wife and Noelle Harrison’s writing, then you will love The Island Girls, a gripping read about two sisters torn apart by tragedy.
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The Island Girls
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There was some dark secret in this western edge of Ireland that her husband never wanted her to find out. She might never be able to lay his body to rest, but she could gain some kind of closure by finding out who the man she married was.
When Lily married her soulmate Connor, buffeted by the sea spray and wild winds of her coastal homeland in Maine, she never imagined she’d be planning his memorial just three years later. Connor has been lost at sea in the bleak stormy Atlantic, leaving Lily heartbroken.
But as she prepares to say goodbye to Connor for the last time, she is shocked to discover a message to him that he never told her about:
Does your wife know who you really are, Connor Fitzgerald? Don’t ever think you can come home. Because if you do, I swear I’ll kill you.
Unable to bear living in the home she and Connor shared, Lily decides to find out her husband’s secret. She flies to Connor’s home town of Mullaghmore on the west coast of Ireland, a harbour town hugged by golden beaches and emerald-green fields. But when doors are slammed in her face, she begins to realise that she knows nothing about her husband’s past.
Connor’s grandmother, a hermit living on the cliffs of the wild Atlantic, must know the truth about her grandson. But when Lily tries to find her, threatening notes are pushed through her door warning her not to stay. Will Lily leave the darkness of the past where it belongs? Or will she risk everything to find out the truth about the man she married…
A completely heartbreaking story about the lies we tell to protect the ones we love. Fans of The Light Between Oceans, Lisa Wingate and Susanne O’Leary will lose their hearts to The Boatman’s Wife.
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Books by Noelle Harrison
The Boatman’s Wife
The Island Girls
The Gravity of Love
The Adulteress
The Secret Loves of Julia Caesar
I Remember
A Small Part Of Me
Beatrice
A Letter from Noelle
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read The Boatman’s Wife. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
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What if the person we love the most in the world is not who we thought they were? Are some secrets unforgiveable?
The Boatman’s Wife aims to take you on a journey between two women connected and yet unknown to each other. To Lily in Maine and her life upon the Atlantic Ocean. How it snatches away what she holds most dear. To Niamh, lost in the dark woods of Ireland as she clings on to what she’s always believed in.