EBOOK
About
Always surprising and incisive, Peter Dickinson, the author of The Yellow Room Conspiracy and dozens of other unique novels, returns with his first new book in five years; and proves again that in his masterful hands, powerful drama and devastating secrets can be found at the heart of even the smallest mysteries.
For nearly her whole life, through most of the twentieth century, Rachel Matson saw the world through the lens of a camera, and produced stunning photographs that not only captured the moment but hinted at a greater truth. Now the ninety-year-old widow lies paralyzed, in the final stages of a debilitating illness. Yet while Rachel's body may be useless, her spirit remains indomitable, her mind razor sharp, and her eye, the trained eye of an artist, still picks up the most telling details. Together with her vast collection of photographs, these gifts are about to help her meet an extraordinary challenge, as she confronts a shattering mystery that harkens back over the decades...
On a television program that showcases heirlooms, an antique pistol that belonged to her late husband, Colonel Jocelyn Matson, turns up, leaving Rachel bewildered and then profoundly disturbed. How could the prized Ladurie -- one of a matched pair of dueling pistols she had given to him to commemorate his return from the horrors of a Japanese POW camp -- appear hundreds of miles away in the possession of a stranger?
Though confined to her bedroom and barely able to communicate with the outside world, Rachel is determined to figure out how and why a treasured family heirloom wound up in a stranger's possession. With the help of her old photographs, her devoted nurse, Dilys, and Jenny, the sweet young lady from the telly, Rachel sets out to unravel this last mystery before the end comes. But the answers she seeks are waiting for her in the darkest shadows of a past best left unexplored and in shocking family secrets that, by rights, should remain locked away forever.
For nearly her whole life, through most of the twentieth century, Rachel Matson saw the world through the lens of a camera, and produced stunning photographs that not only captured the moment but hinted at a greater truth. Now the ninety-year-old widow lies paralyzed, in the final stages of a debilitating illness. Yet while Rachel's body may be useless, her spirit remains indomitable, her mind razor sharp, and her eye, the trained eye of an artist, still picks up the most telling details. Together with her vast collection of photographs, these gifts are about to help her meet an extraordinary challenge, as she confronts a shattering mystery that harkens back over the decades...
On a television program that showcases heirlooms, an antique pistol that belonged to her late husband, Colonel Jocelyn Matson, turns up, leaving Rachel bewildered and then profoundly disturbed. How could the prized Ladurie -- one of a matched pair of dueling pistols she had given to him to commemorate his return from the horrors of a Japanese POW camp -- appear hundreds of miles away in the possession of a stranger?
Though confined to her bedroom and barely able to communicate with the outside world, Rachel is determined to figure out how and why a treasured family heirloom wound up in a stranger's possession. With the help of her old photographs, her devoted nurse, Dilys, and Jenny, the sweet young lady from the telly, Rachel sets out to unravel this last mystery before the end comes. But the answers she seeks are waiting for her in the darkest shadows of a past best left unexplored and in shocking family secrets that, by rights, should remain locked away forever.