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Every week Calliope writes a letter to her twin sister who died sixty years ago. One day, she receives a letter back...
Present day, London. Now an elderly lady and living alone in her basement flat, Calliope desperately misses the sun-soaked olive groves of her Greek island home. It has been over sixty years since she ran away. When the letter postmarked from Crete lands on her doorstep, she is shocked to the core by what it says. Her twin sister is alive: We need to talk about what happened.
Now Calliope must make a confession to her beloved granddaughter Ella. Calliope needs to lay her lifetime of secrets to rest, and she needs Ella's help...
1944, Crete. Calliope clutches the baby to her chest as they run down the cliff path to the blue water of the harbour. She is all the little one has left now, and they must escape. The boat the Allies sent won't wait forever. If only she'd reached the village sooner, her twin sister would still be alive. She will never forgive herself, but she must stay strong for the baby.
Calliope must make one final journey home. And what her and her granddaughter discover in Crete will change the course of their lives forever...
A heartbreaking and uplifting novel of a family torn apart by a devastating secret that will sweep you away across the glittering sea to Greece. Fans of Victoria Hislop, The Letter and Fiona Valpy won't be able to put this beautiful book down.
Readers love Rose Alexander:
'OH MY BROKEN HEART!!!!!!... Beautiful... Heart-warming... I loved every single minute... Heartbreaking... Deserves a million stars... Absolutely gut-wrenching. I can't even count the number of times I sobbed... My heart was just shattering into pieces.' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿
'This is a book you'll want to binge-read and you won't want to set it aside for anything!...I was glued to the pages... Phenomenal... Worthy of all the stars.' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿
'Had me riveted from start to finish... Had me reading deep into the night with only a few hours' sleep before I put the kettle on again to finish... I cried... I simply couldn't put it down.' Goodreads reviewer, ¿¿¿¿¿
'Wow... Hit me like a sledgehammer... Devastating... Gut-wrenching... The most beautiful...The most heartwarming... A privilege to read.' Goodreads reviewer,¿¿¿¿¿
'Beautiful... unlike anything I've ever read before... Entirely consumed me from beginning to end... heart-breaking... powerful... my book of the year. Stunning... Unforgettable.' Being Anne
'Took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, and I couldn't put it down... beautiful and emotional... kept me hooked from start to finish... Captivating and heart-warming.' Kelly Lacey,¿¿¿¿¿
About the author
Rose Alexander has had more careers than she cares to mention and is currently a secondary school English teacher. She writes in the holidays, weekends and evenings, whenever she has a chance, although with three children, a husband, a lodger and a cat, this isn't always as often as she'd like. She's a keen sewist and is on a mission to make all her own clothes.
