The internationally bestselling authorof The French Gardener presentsa complex and irresistibly compelling novel that confirms the remarkablepower of love to heal and transform Ten-year-old Floriana is captivated by the beauty of the magnificent Tuscan villa that overlooks the sea just outside her small village She likes to spy from the crumbling wall into the gardens and imagine that one day shell escape her meager existence and live there surrounded by its otherworldly splendor Then one day Dante the son of the villas powerful industrialist owner invites her inside and shows her the enchanting Mermaid Garden From that moment Floriana knows that the only destiny for her is there in that garden with Dante But as they grow up and fall in love their romance causes a crisis jeopardizing the very thing they hold most dear Decades later and hundreds of miles away a beau-tiful old country house hotel on Englands Devon coast has fallen on hard times after the financial crash of Its owner Marina advertises for an artist to stay the summer and teach the guests how to paint The man she hires is charismatic and wise and soon begins to pacify the discord in her family and transform the fortunes of the hotel However he has his own agenda Is it to destroy to seduce or to heal Whatever his intentions he is certain to change Marinas life forever Spanning four decades and sweeping from the Italian countryside to the English coast this new story by Santa Montefiore is a moving and mysterious tale of love forgiveness and the past revealed.
