Lindsey Reviews: True Colours - Sue Haasler

 

 

Lindsey Reviews: True Colours - Sue Haasler - 2014

This book is set in Northlands: a remote coastal community in Britain.  The story revolves around Beth; a 40 year old widow, her father Bill and Beth’s teenage son Danny.  The family live in a remote setting in Last Reach where her father Bill was the lighthouse keeper.  After a particularly horrific storm, the family are shocked to find that the storm has caused the collapse of the cliff edge perilously close to where their property is, putting their home and livelihood at risk.  However, just when they think all is lost, they learn that would be M.P. Gareth Dakers is due to visit their constituency to drum up potential voters and decide to confront him about this issue.  During the course of the meeting, Gareth valiantly offers them refuge in his own home.   However, this is in London and given their precarious state of affairs, the family reluctantly uproot to seek refuge. Beth particularly struggles with leaving Last Reach as her fisherman husband was lost at sea on his boat 3 years previously and although wreckage of the boat was found, his body was never was.  In leaving Last Reach, she is effectively leaving the last physical link to her husband.   Thus the main premise of the novel begins: will the sheltered family adapt to life in the big city in a stranger’s house and far from all they know? And is Beth willing to finally come to terms with the loss of her husband to give in to her growing feelings for Dakers’ handsome spin doctor Fin Lewis or will the spectre of her dead husband stand in her way of finding happiness again?

This was a gorgeous novel.  It is by turns a gentle love story, mixed with the shady world of politics and secrets and the writing was very atmospheric.  It dealt with the themes of second chances and new beginnings with an array of wonderful characters that brought the tale to life to make for a heart-warming read. Beth especially was an endearing and warm character to who the reader felt drawn too and it was moving to see, as the book progressed, of how she finally is able to come to terms with her past to find love again.

A well executed plot tempered with a superb mixture of intrigue, humour and romance, this is a perfect read to curl up with and escape into.