Houses tell stories - but some secrets are buried deep within their history.
Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Vietnam War and the dramatic societal changes of the 1960s, feisty midwife Val Eddington returns to Sydney, done with love and riddled with regret. But a mysterious phone call summoning her to Carinya, a grand Victorian villa, catapults her into a future she never imagined.
The sudden, tragic death of Val's uncle, Geoff, leaves behind a trail of letters that bind Val to two strangers: Mack, a charismatic photographer searching for the mother who rejected him, and Sid, a broken man burdened by an inheritance he never wanted. As the trio grapple with Geoff's final words, the scandals of the past begin to unravel in chaotic and unpredictable ways.
When a tiny diary hidden in a dusty loft is discovered, the final piece of a decades-old puzzle falls into place. As the only one with all the facts, Val faces a heart-wrenching choice. Can she expose the complicated truth behind Carinya's magnificent fa ade without losing the people she's come to love?
A sweeping story of rejection, unlikely romance, and the courageous women who dare to reinvent history.
(Perfect for fans of The Palace of Tears by Julian Leatherdale.)