Grey Stones: Grave Secrets

St Quentin, Northern France, Spring 1918.

The enemy offensive is underway. Their numbers dwindling, the survivors of a beleaguered redoubt continue to engage the German juggernaut. The battle is lost. Death, dressed as glorious defeat, surrounds them. Or does it? An invitation to surrender ignites hope in the hearts of the defenders. But the colonel is adamant. There will be no surrender. Here they will fight. Here they will die. Appalled by his intransigence, a young captain begs the colonel to reconsider. But to no avail. Time is running out, and the captain must take matters into his own hands.

Keswick, Northern England, Autumn 1966.

Grace Connolly has returned home and accepted a teaching post at Grey Stones, a boarding school on the outskirts of Keswick. Grieving her mother's death, she finds a photograph of Michael Edwards, a former headmaster of the school who, it transpires, was murdered in 1941. Could he be the father she never knew? With circumstance and inference feeding her growing uncertainty, Grace must confront a new reality as the past collides with the present.

As the narrative moves away from the trenches of 1918, a trail of murder, desertion, blackmail and betrayal is uncovered. But can the evidence be trusted, and if so, must history be rewritten?

Courage, friendship, honour, and duty, seasoned with guilt, betrayal, and a pinch of innocence, are fed into the mix before the truth is finally revealed.