Secret at Dark Castle (Prickly Hawthorn Village)

Prickly Hawthorn Village, Book 11816 County Waterford, Hawthorn Village, IrelandMairéad, left in a basket on the steps of The Sacred Heart Convent and raised by the nuns, intends to take vows in the fall when she turns eighteen. Having lived her life within the cloister, she knows nothing of the secular world except for the dealings she has had with people who bring their manuscripts to be illuminated. Her delicate artistry is a source of income for the convent. A local aristocrat, Lord Darnley, willing to pay a vast amount for work on his manuscript, demands she stay at Rockmore Hall for the summer to illuminate a book he wrote about his ancestors. Conflicted about leaving the convent for the first time, Mairéad experiences a life she's never known. Being on the outside of cloistered walls overwhelms her. She witnesses the power of family, the fierce loyalty, and the bad blood that rises from time to time. Cast into the center of their lives, Mairéad is aware of what she does not have, family. And, she begins to question her identity. Her awareness of the problems in the Darnley household has her questioning what she might find in her own family. Would it be happiness, or heartache? She almost convinces herself wishing can be a dangerous thing.