Jonathan had only visited Trevaglan once, 14 years ago, the same summer he lost his mother. His return conjures both bright memories and dark, and sets in motion a resolution that may cost him Alayne, the man who has come to mean the world to him.

He is remembered by the townsfolk, and the residents of the farm, not all of them with fondness. He loved for the first time that long ago summer, and lost that love in circumstances he cannot bear to revisit. Now tokens of the past appear on his windowsill, secret signals only he and his lover knew. But Nat is dead, so who is tormenting Jonathan and endangering Alayne?

LOVER'S KNOT is one of the better books I've read. The violent events of the past are painted in harsh colors, truth is not disguised with pretty language, yet the underlying theme of sweet love long denied is what lingers after the last page.

Hardy is able to write intensely moving, quietly passionate love scenes, yet also evoke in blistering detail harrowing scenes from the main character's past, neither overshadowing the other, both integral to the beautiful conclusion. It has many elements I like, including a turn of the century British location (Cornwall, 1906), a Gothic ghost story and deeply felt, passionate love. In tone, it reminds me of the way I felt reading Rebecca by Daphne Dumarier for the first time. The same sense of my breath catching in my throat, the feeling of the characters caught up in inevitable conflict and of the past being revealed page by page.

LOVER'S KNOT is Donald L. Hardy's first work of fiction, and a book that will remain dear to my heart.

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