The Secrets Of The Cave

The Secrets of the Cave
Phillipa Bowers
Piatkus Books
ISBN 978-0-7499-3879-6
262 Pages
Paperback £12.99

Betty Barnes has the same powers to ‘see’ as her sister Kate. However she dislikes living in the country and is a difficult child causing problems for their grandmother as well as Kate. At school she is rebellious and unhappy, some of it caused by the bullying over her sister because Kate is living in sin. Betty dreams of being on the stage and runs off to London after a quarrel with her sister, but life is hard for a young girl alone and she drifts into bad ways.

After being deserted by her lover and losing her beloved daughter in a terrible accident, Betty returns home to help when Kate is ill. Now she becomes aware of her duty to the cave. She is one of a long line of wise women who must care for the secrets of the cave. Gradually, Betty may find happiness and in time wrongs that were done her are righted.

This is a powerful, involving book that makes you want to keep reading right to the end. The author interweaves stories from the past with the present and produces a complex picture that commands your senses and haunts you when the book is done. Award, five red roses. Morna