BOOK BY: Carolyn Miller
Carolyn Miller’s newest release is a refreshing perspective on the lives of commoners during the regency era in the lake district of England. It’s a unique take on this genre, shifting the focus from the aristocracy with their marriage pursuits to those working the land.
Dusk’s Darkest Shores features a disabled hero, who learns to deal with his disability through the efforts of the town doctor’s daughter, Mary. Adam, the war hero, returns home with little fanfare, instead becoming the subject of gossip and harsh critiques. Upon the insistence of Adam’s parents and Mary’s father, she helps the injured soldier learn to function with his disability. She helps him to live again.
Mary is a sensible character who is unjustly treated in the town. She is kind, intelligent, and a faithful helper to her doctor father. She is a woman of faith, and appears to have the gift of healing. Yet, she is resolved that her lot in life is to remain single as England is desperately short on eligible bachelors to wed.
One can’t help but to feel Adam’s agony as he deals with the reality that faces him when he returns home. As he struggles with his new reality, Adam proves to be an honorable character. He has seen much of the world as a soldier and doesn’t care much for talk around town and desires to be the son he should have been before he left for war.
The pages are peppered with colourful characters – some endearing, some not. Youthfulness is contrasted with mature steadfastness as Mary converses with many of the younger, single women in town. There are enough medical problems in town to keep Mary focused on assisting her father, and she chooses to work hard instead of lamenting over singleness.
There’s a bit of a mystery going on, a tragic circumstance that has Mary questioning her faith, a broken engagement, topped off with a sweet story of friendship. Of course there is a happily-ever-after, but maybe not quite what you may expect.
I didn’t miss the pomp and circumstance of other regencies, and found myself lost in the story of common people.
I look forward to the next book in the Wallflowers Series.
ABOUT THE BOOK
How can a meek wallflower help a returning war hero whose dreams are plunged into darkness?
Mary Bloomfield has no illusions. Her chances for matrimony have long since passed her by. Still, her circumstances are pleasant enough, especially now that she has found purpose in assisting her father with his medical practice in England’s beautiful Lake District. Even without love, it’s a peaceful life.
That is until Adam Edgerton returns to the sleepy district. This decorated war hero did not arrive home to acclaim and rest, but to a new battle against the repercussions of an insidious disease. Mary’s caring nature cannot stand to see someone suffer–but how can she help this man see any brightness in his future when he’s plunged into melancholic darkness, his dreams laid waste by his condition?
Adam wants no charity, but he’s also no coward. If this gentle woman can work hard, how can he do less? Together they struggle to find a way forward for him. Frustration and antipathy slowly develop into friendship and esteem. Then a summer storm atop a mountain peak leads to scandal–and both Mary and Adam must search the depths of their closed hearts for answers if they hope to find any future path with happiness at its end.
Best-selling author Carolyn Miller is back with a fresh series that will not only thrill readers eager for more of her work, but bring in new fans looking for beautiful writing, fascinating research, deftly woven love stories, and real faith lived out in the Regency period.
Click here to read an excerpt.
Enter to win a fun prize pack inspired by the book and its English setting that includes:
– a copy of Dusk’s Darkest Shores
– a canvas bag to carry your latest reads
– a fun pair of Jane Austen socks
– Novel Teas’ English Breakfast tea
– “Drink tea, read books, and be happy” tea spoon
– “Let your faith be bigger than your fear” mug
– Black currant preserves from England
– Wax Lyrical candle from England