I’ll be Home for Christmas (Book 3 of the Roone series)

• Dramatic Rights: Available
• Setting: The island of Roone, apart from the opening sequence which takes place in Australia, and a scene in Heathrow airport, London and another in Dublin. Laura and Gavin are now a family of seven, Laura’s two sets of twins having been followed by another girl, and their B&B is closed for the winter. Laura went through breast cancer during her last pregnancy, and it has damaged her self-esteem and her relationship with Gavin. Nell and James have had two children, and James now manages Nell’s uncle Hugh’s pub. Meanwhile, Hugh and Imelda’s foster daughter Eve has ended things with James’ son Andy, finding it difficult to sustain a relationship in the light of her sexual abuse history.
• Vibe: Roone in December, a very different place. Quiet, slow, roads empty, ferry to the mainland on its reduced winter schedule, seasonal businesses closed – but life going on among the local community.
• Period: 22-30 December 2016

Australian-born adopted Tilly, 17, tracks down her Irish birth mother who tells her that she has a sister living on Roone. When she discovers that she’s pregnant by a substitute teacher, Tilly in a panic books a flight to Ireland 2 days before Christmas without telling her parents, using savings from a weekend waitressing job. During a stopover in Heathrow her bag is stolen, leaving her practically penniless. On her arrival at the ferry terminal on Christmas Eve, she discovers that the ferry to Roone isn’t running due to high seas. Meanwhile, the island’s only hotel is damaged by the continuing storm that evening, so the owner farms out his guests among the B&Bs, and Laura takes in crochety American Larry. Her mother-in-law Gladys, no fan of Laura’s, is already spending Christmas with them – and on Christmas Day Tilly shows up and shocks Laura by announcing that she’s her sister. Over the days that follow, Laura and Tilly become acquainted; Tilly meets Andy and is attracted to him; she miscarries the teacher’s baby; on her return to Dublin, Gladys suffers a fatal heart attack. Tilly leaves Roone when her time is up, vowing to return to the island and her newly found family, and to Andy.

 

 

 

UK Publisher: Hachette Ireland