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The Frozen Lake: A gripping novel of family and wartime secrets
Elizabeth Edmondson
A novel of family secrets hidden through two generations, set against the stunning backdrop of the Lake District in midwinter. From the author of The Villa in Italy.One family Christmas uncovers two generations of secrets…The year of 1936 is drawing to a close. Winter grips Wetmoreland and causes a rare phenonmenon: the lakes freeze. For two local families, the Richardsons and the Grindleys, the frozen lake entices long-estranged siblings and children to return home for Christmas.Some are aware of the storm clouds of war gathering over Europe, yet everyone wants to put troubles aside, however personal, to enjoy a frozen Christmas. But one visitor carries a seed of violence and not even the matriarch of the Richardson clan can prevent the carefully buried secrets of the past from erupting to change everything.A compelling blend of family closeness and strife, dazzling passion and the dark influence of history, this is an enthralling read to curl up and savour.
ELIZABETH EDMONDSON
The Frozen Lake
Copyright (#ulink_b1656a8f-9ff3-5244-b6c2-b3947d3e83e1)
This novel is a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2004
Copyright © A.E. Books Ltd 2004
Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2015. Cover illustration by John Harris.
Cover images © Shutterstock.com (border).
The Author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source ISBN: 9780007335169
Ebook Edition © MARCH 2011 ISBN: 9780007438273
Version:2014-12-11
Contents
Cover (#u1eb11923-f03e-595d-a7f6-fe93435cc84f)
Title Page (#u2693667c-4de3-5dcf-a399-37b6d2cb3201)
Copyright (#u19b02b7b-94b4-50a2-b849-c5a1a6289a87)
Homecomings (#u30852896-f18b-5072-b38d-f42e701d628b)
ONE (#u126a5754-4caa-5a2a-a59c-34192d94ebc1)
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ELEVEN (#u0ef9153d-1dfa-546d-abcb-0ec4ecf13c04)
Westmoreland (#u3aac1ce9-492c-559b-97fc-1c5778a67735)
TWELVE (#u40e07806-21dc-514a-93cd-7fedfe2130cc)
THIRTEEN (#uf841cac9-8a75-5834-9ee7-8272fa2a8fb8)
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Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
For Tio, who was there
This book is dedicated with love to my uncle,
James Edmondson, whose memories of Westmoreland
winters of long ago and stories of life in the
nineteen-thirties have been a delight and an inspiration
APRIL 1921 (#u906ef3ed-58ed-51c8-b94c-90a7eb3fbb88)
STOP PRESS
Westmoreland man killed in mountaineering accident
Neville Richardson, eldest son of Sir Henry and Lady Richardson of Wyncrag, fell to his death earlier this month, while climbing in the Andes. Aged forty-one, he leaves a wife, Helena, a son and two daughters. Sir Henry’s youngest son, Jack Richardson MC, died in France in 1917.
DECEMBER 1936 (#u906ef3ed-58ed-51c8-b94c-90a7eb3fbb88)
Never does the scenery appear to more advantage as when the lake is covered with transparent ice from end to end, and the glint of sunshine, investing its surface with bright and changeful colours, makes it appear like an opal set in a wreath of virgin white. Towards sunset the snow-clad fells assume every tint the sun can create, from deepest crimson to palest gold. Frost fringes becks and rivers, and the ice patterns windows with its chilly fingers, weaving ethereal cobwebs across hedges and fells. Breath freezes on the air and the black coats of Fell ponies on the hillside are dusted white, manes and eyelashes touched with ice, and icicles tangle the shaggy fleeces of the hardy native sheep while they forage for food beneath the snow.
