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by Valerie Holmes (Author)
1816, Dibbledale, a North Yorkshire village in England.
Lieutenant Micah Arrow returns to the village of Dibbledale after serving in Wellington's army. Micah's mentor, Intelligence Officer Lord Oscar Farrington, is impressed with Micah's plan to turn Dibbledale into a haven for injured soldiers by employing their pre-war skills or offering apprenticeships. Micah withholds the news of his secret inheritance until it is secured through the assistance of Lord Farrington. However, the longer a secret is kept the harder it is to explain.
Miss Imogen Underwood's greatest wish is for her humble blacksmith father, Wilfred, and Mary her 'wise woman' mother to move peacefully into Dibbledale. The woodland cottage that Imogen grew up in is Mary's haven where she as a healer, keeps her distance from those villagers who are suspicious and ignorant of her ways. Mary's past hides a secret that Imogen would know.
When childhood friends Micah and Imogen reunite, they realise their feelings for each other are stronger than they ever were, but their mothers hold opposing views. His mother, a vicar's wife, fears Mary's ways. Worse still, Sir Benedict Adams has taken over the former 'Bagby Hall', a place now renamed to eradicate the treacherous 'Bagby' name, and the secrets buried there. Sir Benedict is planning to destroy Dibbledale's peace and beauty by opening a tannery using the land where the Underwood's cottage stands.
Secrets and their consequences worm their way between Micah and Imogen.
Can they make a future together?
Will they be able to save Dibbledale's peace and tranquillity?
Can their families overcome their prejudices?
Only when secrets are revealed can devoted friends be distinguished from destructive foes and allow love to find its true home.
Secrets is book 2 in the Friends and Foes series, the first being 'Betrayal'. It can be read as a stand-alone, but characters and settings do recur.
