Bhalla Strand

A beautiful debut novel set in the Outer Hebrides, Bhalla Strand combines archaeology and dark mystery. In the present day, Harriet Devereux returns to the family home of Bhalla House on a remote Hebridean island estate following the untimely death of her parents. Torn between selling the house and turning it into a hotel, Harriet undertakes urgent repairs, accidently uncovering human remains. Who has been lying beneath the floorboards for a century? Were they murdered? Through diaries and letters she finds, Harriet discovers that the house was occupied at the turn of the century by distant relative Beatrice Blake, a young aristocratic woman recently married to renowned naturalist and painter, Theodore Blake. With socialist and proto-environmentalist leanings Beatrice is soon in conflict with her autocratic new husband, who is distant, more interested in Cameron, a mysterious young man from the island. As Beatrice is also drawn to Cameron, a single kiss sets off a chain of events that will change all their lives, leaving Harriet to assemble the jigsaw of clues piece by piece one hundred years later, as she obsessively chases the truth. In Bhalla Strand, author Sarah Maine uses her professional knowledge of archaeology and her skills as a storyteller to create an utterly compelling historical mystery set in a haunting and beautifully evoked location.