Shadows of the Shore - Hardcover

Stirling, Jessica

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340553707 ISBN 13: 9780340553701

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division, 1993

Synopsis

Set in 1802. Fate brings Clare face-to-face with the lover who abandoned her 13 years before. She is no longer a guileless, innocent girl, and must protect her daughter from his predatory charm. So begins a deadly game of passion and deceit. By the author of "Lantern for the Dark".

About this title

About the Author:

Born in Glasgow, Jessica Stirling is the author of many heartwarming novels, most of which have Scottish backgrounds. She has enjoyed a highly successful career since The Spoiled Earth was published in 1974.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A sequel to the author's Lantern for the Barn (1992), that lowering, robustly peopled novel about an infanticide trial in 1788 Glasgow. The time is now 1802, and the acquitted mother, recently widowed after a post-trial marriage, finds herself mistress of a considerable estate and a flourishing salt works in Ayrshire. Enter that rogue, cheat, and extraordinary lover Frederick Striker, father of the murdered baby; although he was not responsible, he's no stranger to untimely deaths. Frederick Striker had arrived on a dark and stormy night by sea, determined to marry Clare. Although she had been certain ``her rage was impermeable,'' Clare is dismayed to discover that she draws, still, a split-second pleasure from Frederick. Also lodging in Clare's house is the French scientist Henri Leblanc, a student of Lavoisier, who promises great inventions based on the interaction of gases. To the surprise of all, Clare appoints Frederick her factor in the salt works and provides Henri (who is charming Clare's young daughter) with a laboratory. In the meantime, Frederick lures former enemies into plots not only to profit from Henri's work, but also to gain ownership of Clare's estate. Also pursuing Frederick are an Irish beauty, who's not only his lover but also the daughter of his vanished wife, and the wife of a local industrialist. Before Clare, who's done her own plotting, takes her long-awaited revenge, there'll be a killing, a monstrous birth during a stormy catastrophe in the church, murderous games (there's an almost-hanging), and various (arranged) explosions from Henri's laboratory. Not as concentrated in dramatic plausibility, perhaps, as Lantern, but the heroines are gritty, keen, and hard-working; the ambiance is realistically seaside-rugged; and Stirling has again gathered a group of well-intentioned-to-deadly beings from whom she wrings plenty of melodrama, suspense, and gossip. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton General Division
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0340553707
• ISBN 13: 9780340553701
• Binding: Hardcover