Beatrice - Noelle Harrison

Eithne is the keeper of secrets in her family: when her sister Beatrice disappeared from her home in the dark woods of Co. Meath, it was 13-year-old Eithne who uncovered the forlorn evidence of her life: a string of pearls, a scarf, a pink beret, a compact and her beloved sketchbook. Their mother, Sarah, was so grief-stricken that she did not speak for six years, and her father, Joe, sank further into drink-filled rage.

Now, as an adult, Eithne is an artist, and tries to remember her sister in her prints of the dark wooded bogs behind her house: 'I print my landscapes, but they are no longer just that. Objects enter their arenas, all hidden in the woods. by the lough, under the Aspen trees. a string of pearls, a compact, a hat, a sketchbook.'

For there was something else about Beatrice that was rarely spoken in the household, a dark, guilty secret that her disappearance only made worse. Something about Beatrice's birth and an Englishman, covered forever by Sarah's shame and Joe's bitter anger. And now, almost twenty years later, it is all blown apart, when a girl appears, claiming to be Beatrice's daughter, given up for adoption all those years ago.

Framed by Eithne's journey to discover the truth about her sister, with the magic and beauty of art running through it, this is a richly compelling, haunting story of family secrets, passion and ultimately redemption.