Beauty For Ashes

Jane Anstey/Beauty For Ashes/ebook/ Wings -Epress/241pages

Luke had his friends Helen, Kevin and Dee to Christmas lunch at his home. He has been a movie actor and is very wealthy but his unhappiness hangs about him like a cloak. He cannot forget the young, innocent and beautiful girl Sammy. Luke believes he broke her heart one Christmas – the same Christmas his father died alone in hospital. Weighed down by guilt and loneliness Luke tries to take his own life by wading into the sea that night, but Dee is worried about Luke when she hears from Daniel who has arrived late to find him missing. Luke's life is saved but it is a long time before he begins to recover his spirits.

Meanwhile, unknown to Luke, Sammy's marriage is unhappy. Her husband Michael, suffering from a depressing illness is brooding on the way she has withdrawn from him, and blaming Luke – because he knows a secret that Sammy does not. A long time passes and Luke has to pass through many phases, including a brief and hurtful affair with Dee, who loves him, before ashes can turn to beauty for him. This is an epic love story with several intriguing sub plots and keeps the reader glued to the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story of love that will not die and the turmoil of friends who are there for each other despite all that happens to rip them apart. Anstey is a promising writer who deserves success and should get it. I give this book five red roses. Anne

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