Ann O'Loughlin

My dearest Marianne, by now you will be confused and a little mystified as to why I have made this great ask of you… But I promise the reasons will become apparent. There are secrets, you see… When New York-born Marianne’s grandmother Collie passes away at home in rural Ireland, no one expects Marianne to be the one to inherit everything. Surely beautiful Kilteelagh House, with its avenue of trees, its acres of wildflowers, and its mysteriously locked front door should have gone to Marianne’s aunt – who’d nursed Collie in her dying days? But Collie had a different plan. Her last wish was for Marianne to come to live in the house – for a year – raising her two headstrong young nieces at the same time. Marianne is overwhelmed by the challenge. As letters – written before her death – begin to arrive from Collie, Marianne soon realises that her grandmother has a lot to still teach her. Her growing attraction to local handyman Jack and her new circle of friends means Marianne can’t help but begin to fall in love with this place that is so full of memories, of secrets, and perhaps even a little bit of Irish magic. That is, until a letter arrives that changes everything Marianne thought she knew… An emotional and heart-warming read that will make you laugh, cry and hold your loved ones close. Perfect for fans of Susanne O’Leary, Cathy Kelly and Kathleen McGurl.

Secrets can’t last forever in this heartfelt debut novel, a UK bestseller and contemporary Philomena story.In a crumbling mansion in a small Irish village in County Wicklow, two elderly sisters, Ella and Roberta O’Callaghan, live alone in Roscarbury Hall with their secrets, memories, and mutual hatred. Long estranged by a dark family tragedy, the two communicate only by terse notes. But when the sisters are threatened with bankruptcy, Ella defies Roberta’s wishes and takes matters into her own hands, putting her baking skills to good use and converting the mansion’s old ballroom into a café.Much to Roberta’s displeasure, the café is a hit and the sisters are reluctantly drawn back into the village life they abandoned decades ago. But gossip has a long life, and Ella finds herself reliving painful memories when Debbie, an American woman searching for her birth mother, begins working at the café. As the local convent comes under scrutiny, the O’Callaghan sisters find themselves caught up in an adoption scandal that dates back to the 1960s and spreads all the way across the Atlantic Ocean. Only by overcoming their enmity and facing up to the past can they face the future together—but can they finally put their differences behind them? An emotionally rich story with flashes of humor, gossip, and tragedy, The Secrets of Roscarbury Hall is a moving debut novel of love both lost and found.