The Last of the Stanfields (by Marc Levy)

This is a fabulous read! Marc Levy is the most read contemporary French author in the world and I can see why.

Story outline: “When London journalist Eleanor-Rigby Donovan receives an anonymous letter alluding to a crime committed by her deceased mother, her life is turned upside down. It points her to a bar on the Baltimore Harbor, where she finds a stranger who has received the same mysterious letter about his own mother. Together, Eleanor-Rigby and this young man, George-Harrison Collins, embark on a quest through the shadowy past of the Stanfields, a moneyed Maryland family full of unimaginable secrets. These secrets will transport them back decades, across continents, and to a mysterious crime long buried…until now.”

The war-time backstory of the parents and the chilling secret gradually unravels as Eleanor-Rigby and George-Harrison discover more about their parents.

It is an easy read and you soon get drawn into the story. Of course, the romantic will like the relationship between Eleanor-Rigby and George-Harrison, and wonder will they or won’t they? There are plenty of rich characterisations – some characters are likeable, others are mean and parents from hell. Laced with humour, double-crosses, intrigue, and style – this is a read you do not want to miss.

About the author: With more than forty million books sold, Marc Levy is the most-read French author alive today. He’s written nineteen novels to date, including P.S. from Paris, All Those Things We Never Said, The Children of Freedom, and Replay.