Summer at Shell Cottage

Book excerpt: The Tarrant family have been holidaying in a large seaside house in Devon every summer for years. Though children, Freya and Robert, are grown up now, and have families of their own, the tradition has continued. But this year things are heartbreakingly changed: patriarch Alec has died suddenly after forty happy years of marriage to Olivia. Now retired and widowed, Olivia is persuaded that going back to Devon is just the distraction she needs. It will also give her the peace and quiet to work through a confusing clause in Alec's will: he's left a sum of money to a mysterious Leo Browne, someone she's never heard of before ... Freya also needs to get away from it all. She's struggling with her work, her marriage and the loss of her beloved dad and it doesn't help that her husband is so distant. Her brother Robert seems to have a better handle on things, with a new family and exciting career to boast of. But the truth is far from rosy. Over one last summer at Shell Cottage, the Tarrants may just find that family life is rarely postcard-perfect, but are they strong enough to weather the storms?