Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Back in the tiny seaside village of Heaven’s Cove after the death of her mother, all Rosie Merchant wants is to hide her tears, rent out her childhood home, and get back to her ‘real’ life, away from the gossiping villagers and wild Devon weather she escaped from years ago.
She’s surprised to find a smiling man in hiking boots – local farmer Liam – waiting on the stone doorstep. His kind offer to help clear crumbling, isolated Driftwood House is hard to refuse, and despite Rosie’s determination not to let anyone get close, soon they’re walking and laughing together along the clifftops. As clouds scud across the endless sky and green waves crash against the shore, Rosie is reminded that nowhere is more beautiful than home.
Then, up in the attic of Driftwood House, Rosie stumbles across a photo which exposes the heart-stopping truth about how her mother came to live at Driftwood House years ago… and Liam only seems concerned about the implications for his own nearby farm. Did he know this painful secret all along, and should she run from Heaven’s Cove for good? Or will facing up to her devastating family history mean Rosie can finally put down roots in this beautiful place?
Many thanks to Bookouture via NetGalley for my copy of Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Liz Eeles is back after what feels like ages since her last book. Secrets at the Last House Before the Sea is set in the Devon village of Heavens Cove. Liz really excels at creating brilliant settings for her books that leap off the page and you invite you in. Reading this book on a cold and dreary winter’s day I felt transported away to a small village where everybody knows everyone and in turn no one’s business or personal life is private. That’s what happens when you live in a small coastal village. Sometimes that can be a good thing more often than not it’s not the best situation to find yourself in if you have things going on that you think are best kept private.
Our main character Rosie Merchant has returned to the village after living abroad for many years. The reason for Rosie’s visit is not a happy one as her mother Sofia has passed away after suffering a stroke. From the outset we can see that Rosie is burdened by grief and loss but there is also something else eating away at her., that being guilt. Guilt that she never came home to visit her mother more often and the fact that she always seemed to be running away from Heaven’s Cove leaving people to form a bad impression of her. Nothing changes in the village, it’s the same old thing year after year in a never ending cycle and she thought she had escaped this. But on her return for the funeral and to deal with her mother’s house and belongings, old memories are stirred for Rosie.
The sense of claustrophobia the village stirs in her is still there and she tries her best to avoid people. Some in particular who perhaps didn’t give her the best of times growing up. But as we learn more about Rosie, maybe she chose to be the was growing up and perhaps liked the impression she gave off. That she wanted to stay that way and by leaving she could find a new sense of self yet she knew the cottage and her mother would always be there to return to permanently if she so wished. But now Sofia is gone and the future is uncertain She may not have chosen this point in time or this reason for her return but it’s clear a life changing experience is about to happen for her. Is she ready to embrace it or will the return call of Spain and her boyfriend Matt prove to strong? Especially as fleeing has always been her way of operating.
Rosie’s mother lived high above the clifftops in Driftwood House. It’s isolated and a bit ramshackle but yet the surrounding landscape and the views of the sea are good for the heart and mind. Liz creates such a vivid picture of the area with the moor and countryside and the house becoming like characters themselves. Rosie feels fragile and lost and the house is a source of comfort and security for her. So when a letter arrives from a solicitor on behalf of local landowner Charles Epping detailing that the house was not actually her mother’s and that the house will revert back to him. Well Rosie’s already tender state suffers even more? Yes, she mentions endless times how Heaven’s Cove has made her feel in the past and that she felt like she was a nerd and a loner and that was one of the primary reasons for her escaping. Yet when something you know is solid and staid in your life like her mother and Driftwood House well when it’s gone any opinions and feelings you previously had can alter and that’s natural.
The rug has been pulled out from under her and even more so upon discovering a box in the attic that will further change her perspective and have her questioning everything in her life. What she discovers I won’t go in to but it sets Rosie on a quest to make sure the house is not pulled down to make way for a hotel. I guessed fairly on what was going on with the mystery at the centre of the book. But that didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this story at all. Instead when the reveal came and connections were made I had rather a smug sense of satisfaction that I had guessed correctly. Still I was intrigued to discover the reason behind why certain things had happened. The way in which Rosie unravelled the secrets and joined the dots together came at a slow and steady pace.
Secrets retain their power until out in the open and I was keen to see how she would cope with what emerged. She has so many personal questions that need answering and as there are so many secrets and complications that surround her they threaten to overwhelm her. Not to mention she wants to save Driftwood House and sets about sprucing it up a bit in the hopes that Charles Epping will change his mind. But you wonder why is she going about this if she is so insistent on returning to her life in Spain? Could there be something or perhaps someone in Heaven’s Cove that might make her change her mind?
Of course there had to be some romance in this book. Yes, it’s not the main focus but it is an important strand none the less. This book didn’t need to be all about will they won’t they. The story surrounding the house and Rosie’s confronting her past, present and future was more than enough to sustain the entire plot. But still some romance although light in nature was welcome too. Liam Slatterley farms the land near Dirftwood House. He too has land that belongs to Charles Epping and the threat that he will lose that is always there in the back of his mind. Keeping things afloat is not easy. Growing up Liam was known as a jack the lad, an over-sexed man who more or less went through a lot of women and threw them to the curb when not needed.
Rosie still holds this memory of Liam but he has changed as he too has been deeply affected by a recent event in his past. The shoe is on the other foot now for him and he can see the way he acted beforehand was not right and his own heart has now been smashed to pieces. He wears an air of sadness about him. The burden of the farm and his personal life in tatters weighs heavily on him. He feels lonely and humiliated and once some people have formed opinions of you in the village they are very difficult to shake off. Through helping Rosie with some redecorating they get to know each other and discover maybe it’s better to get to know the real person instead of listening to rumours or becoming too entrenched in other people’s opinions. It was inevitable what was going to happen with this strand of the story as happens in most books in this genre still it was enjoyable to read about it.
I really enjoyed Secrets at the Last House Before the sea and feel it’s the best book that Liz Eeles has written since her Salt Bay series which I absolutely adored. There is a nice bit of mystery, some romance, stunning scenery, a wide variety of characters and a lot of soul searching for our main characters. Really there is plenty here to keep you turning the pages but also there were lots of people that featured briefly that I would love to get to know in much more depth. So I was delighted to discover at the end that there will be a return visit to Heaven’s Cove which I hope will be sooner rather than later.
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