Secrets of the Shingle

"It were a body, right there on the shingle."
Alice felt the skin on her throat tighten and her mouth went dry. Another body, just lying there to be found on the beach... or was it another? It could be the same one, just casually discarded.
As the nineteenth century draws to a close, Alice arrives at Dungeness to become teacher at the local school. She is expecting a seaside village with a promenade and sandy beaches. Instead, she finds herself on a desolate, windswept, shingle headland unlike any place she has ever been. All too soon, she stumbles upon a dying woman and is haunted by her inability to help her. Not knowing who to trust and trapped within the inhospitable landscape, Alice is determined to find out who the woman was and what had happened to her. A story of fierce loyalties, sinister secrets and a young woman's growing maturity as she reviews her prejudices and learns to cope in her new environment.
This novel is predominantly set in Dungeness, Kent. The reader is also taken to the areas of Willesborough and Newtown in Ashford, at a time of rapid growth for that town.

"It were a body, right there on the shingle."
Alice felt the skin on her throat tighten and her mouth went dry. Another body, just lying there to be found on the beach... or was it another? It could be the same one, just casually discarded.

As the nineteenth century draws to a close, Alice arrives at Dungeness to become teacher at the local school. She is expecting a seaside village with a promenade and sandy beaches. Instead, she finds herself on a desolate, windswept, shingle headland unlike any place she has ever been. All too soon, she stumbles upon a dying woman and is haunted by her inability to help her. Not knowing who to trust and trapped within the inhospitable landscape, Alice is determined to find out who the woman was and what had happened to her. A story of fierce loyalties, sinister secrets and a young woman's growing maturity as she reviews her prejudices and learns to cope in her new environment.

This novel is predominantly set in Dungeness, Kent. The reader is also taken to the areas of Willesborough and Newtown in Ashford, at a time of rapid growth for that town.