There are many themes running through Her Mother’s Secret: of love, relationships, mystery, crime, secrets and friendships, all woven to give a good balance of romance with a believable darker side of life.Īll in all, Her Mother’s Secret is a novel I would recommend to any read er who enjoys a story that is grounded in the Romance genre but reveals itself to be so much more.Īfter retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction. The book moves at a good pace with a number of twists and turns that sometimes took me by surprise and sometimes gave me a feeling of ‘Ah-ha! my suspicions, picked up through the foreshadowing the author has slipped into the story, coming to fruition is always satisfying to a reader. Alexandra, still grieving, is on the island seeking answers to the disclosures in her mother’s diaryĪnd the author has ensured that the reader becomes engrossed in these characters by intertwining their stories with a cast of believable minor characters and the detailed and redolent descriptions of the Greek island, the harbour, the art school The portrayal of all the settings give an evocative sense of place. But there is one big difference in the two Elin Morgan is following her dreams by becoming an art student at a summer painting school, run by a famous artist, on Péfka. And, although they are never together in any scenes in the novel, the love they had for each other is threaded throughout Her Mother’s Secret. I don’t like giving spoilers in my reviews I try to explain what I like about a book.īoth Elin and Alexandra are complex and well-rounded characters, and very much of their time. These two time frames are linked by the two main characters, Alexandra and her mother, Elin and are connected through time, by the diary that Alexandra has found after her mother’s death.

Her Mother’s Secret is set against the background of the Greek island of Péfka during completely different eras 19.

The author has an easy writing style that I really like, I love the story, which has a brilliant dramatic opening and, unusual for me, I read the book in one fairly long session. I looked forward to reading this debut novel by Jan Baynham for quite a while and I wasn’t disappointed. Once there, she sets about uncovering what really happened to Elin in that summer of ’69. The discovery compels Alexandra to make her own journey to the same island, following in her mother’s footsteps. Twenty-two years later, Elin’s daughter Alexandra has inherited the diary and is reeling from its revelations. But Elin’s carefree summer of love doesn’t last long, and her island experience ultimately leaves her with a shocking secret … As she makes new friends and enjoys the laidback lifestyle, she writes all about it in her diary. I t’s 1969 and free-spirited artist Elin Morgan has left Wales for a sun-drenched Greek island.

Author of summer of 69