Sea gem - Wallis Peel

When Mary, an orphan servant meets Duret, he instantly falls for her and persuades to come back to his island, Guernsey, and marry him. Keen to make a new start in life, but less sure about Duret, she reluctantly becomes engaged. When she lands at St Peter Port, she finds her arrival is greeted unenthusiastically by Louise, her prospective mother-in-law. Only the very next day she meets Victor, a handsome young man and there is instant attraction between them They spar verbally then he insists upon seeing her again. Through eavesdropping she learns he is Louise's bastard grandson and is despised. They do meet again but row furiously on the war's ethics (1918). Despite the mutual attraction fate plays its hand: Victor has to go and work on another island. Duret is injured. Louise takes her to the field hospital and, on the way back, bribes her with the family wealth, and the doomed marriage finally takes place. Distraught at Mary's refusal to marry him, Victor also marries on the rebound. He is still besotted with Mary, yet she refuses to admit to the attraction between them. It is a mismatch marriage and one that spells intrigue and unfaithfulness in this saga of island life. The stage is set for turbulent times as time marches them towards the Second World War and the German occupation of their beloved island.