Book Review
of Delighting in Your Company
Delighting in Your Company
A Haunting Romance
By Blair McDowell
Book
Synopsis:
What more could a girl ask for?
When Amalie Ansett visits her elderly cousin on
the small Caribbean island of St. Clements, the last thing she’s looking for is
romance. Just out of a disastrous marriage, she’s ready to swear off men
forever.
That is until she meets local plantation owner,
Jonathan Evans.
He is tall, good looking, intelligent and
incredibly sexy.
What more could a girl ask for?
An unsolved murder … Then Amalie discovers that
the man she loves is a ghost. Only she can see and hear him. Perhaps he is real
to her because Amalie is the image of her distant ancestor, Jonathan’s bride in
that earlier time.
Jonathan was murdered two hundred years ago,
and has no knowledge of who killed him or why. A perilous trip to the past…
When Jonathan asks her to help him by returning with him to his past, Amalie is
torn. If she helps him solve the mystery surrounding his death, she could lose
him forever.
If she doesn’t, she is stuck with a ghost for a
lover. And a love that crosses the boundaries of time.
To save Jonathan, Amalie agrees to travel with
him back in time to the Caribbean of the 1800’s, when sugar reigned supreme and
the slave trade was making fortunes for wealthy planters and ship owners. Her
adventures there include a slave uprising, murder, deceit and an enduring love
that crosses the boundaries of time.
About the Author:
I started to write soon after I found my first
pencil. But I began to write for publication about 30 years ago -- professional
books. I wrote six of them, all still in print and still in use. Only lately
have I turned to fiction.
I'd have done it a lot sooner if I'd had any
idea how much fun it was! I’ve lived in many different places. The US --
Certain cities call to me. I love San Francisco and Seattle and the wonderful
Oregon Coast. Australia -- among the most open welcoming people in the world,
and a wide open young country with incredible land and sea scapes, with amazing
animal and bird life right out of science fiction.
Canada -- HOME. The place where I belong. I
travel a lot. I usually spend the month of October in Europe, Greece or Italy,
and the winter in a little house I built many years ago on a small non-touristy
Caribbean Island. I have worked and studied in many places -- Hungary,
Australia the US and Canada, and have spoken in most of the States and
Provinces as well as Taiwan and various cities in Europe.
I enjoy being surrounded by cultures other than
my own. I enjoy my own as well -- but variety is indeed the spice of my life. I
keep busy -- and I love my life. I love meeting the people who come here to the
west coast of Canada and stay in my B&B. I love traveling after the tourist
season is over.
And I love writing. My interests?? Music,
especially opera, reading everything in print, and Writing. And walking on the
beach and swimming. At one point I had hoped to swim in every major sea and
ocean. I've realized that may not be possible in one lifetime -- but trying has
been fun!
Book Excerpt:
It was
Sunday morning and Elvirna’s day off. As usual when Elvirna was off, Amalie
made breakfast when Josephina came down, around nine. But before that, she and
Jonathan sat together in the rocking chairs on the veranda and watched the
sunrise light the sea. It was a favorite
time of day for them both.
They were
sitting quietly, hands touching, when Josephina came through the door,
uncharacteristically early.
“Good
morning, Amalie…Good morning, Jonathan. I trust you both slept well.”
Amalie drew
in her breath sharply as Jonathan burst out laughing, that deep uninhibited
laugh that Amalie had come to love.
“How…?”
Amalie was too confused for speech.
“How long
have I known Jonathan? For quite some time. I haven’t always been able to see
him clearly, but I’ve always known when he was here.”
“Can you
see him now, Josephina?”
“Not
exactly. I know he’s here but his outlines are a bit fuzzy. Sometimes I see a
sort of aura. I’m an Ansett too, remember. And sometimes I hear him whistling
Greensleeves, ‘and I have loved you well and long…” She turned to Jonathan.
“You always whistle that same phrase. It’s enough to drive a body crazy.”
Jonathan
laughed again. “Sorry. I’ll try to remember to do a bit more of it in the
future. Or perhaps to whistle another tune.”
Josephina
nodded. “Thank you.” She glanced at
Amalie. “Since Amalie’s been here I seem to see you and hear you more clearly.”
Amalie
shook her head. “But why didn’t you tell me, Josephina?”
“People
already think I’m a little dotty. If I told them I saw ghosts…well, better to
keep it to myself.”
“It’s such
a relief to talk to someone else who can see him. I can more than see him,
Josephina. To me he is as real as you.”
“That’s
nice.”
“But don’t
you see the dilemma we’re facing? Jonathan is a ghost. I’m not.”
“I don’t
see how that’s very different from two people of different races or religions
falling in love. You’re just two people of different times.”
“I didn’t
say anything about love, Josephina.”
“You didn’t
have to. I’ve watched you together for days now, walking on the beach.”
Not having
any notion of how to answer that, Amalie changed tactic. “Jonathan has to be
here for a reason. He needs to know what happened that night. And I must say we
aren’t learning much by wading through the museum archives.” She shook her
head. “And I can’t see how my being here can make a difference.”
Jonathan
answered her. “Your being here definitely makes a difference. But I think to
find out what happened we’ll have to go back together, back to 1810, to the
night when everything went wrong. Perhaps to the week or two leading up to that
night.”
“Oh my.”
Josephina went quite pale.
Why did
that idea not seem crazy to Amalie. “Is it possible to do that?”
Jonathan
nodded. “I’ve done it before. I’ve gone back and lived those last days over and
over, but always the end is the same. I’m carrying you into the house. We’ve
just been secretly wed. I step through
the doorway and...nothing. That’s the
last moment of my life I recall.”
“But if it
ends that way each time, how can my going back with you help?”
“I think I
know the answer to that.” Josephina looked at Amalie. “Jonathan is of that moment in history. When
Jonathan is there he would have no memory of now. Of his future. But you are of
this day and time.”
Jonathan
nodded. “That’s it exactly. There, I have no memory of being a ghost. I have no
premonition of what is to come.” He turned to Amalie, “But, because your time
is of the present, of this time and place, I think it is possible that you will
be able to remember the now, to see and understand both as Amalie, my bride,
and as my Amalie of this century. You may be able to see and to tell me what
happened after I walked through that door. I don’t for one moment believe the
written accounts.”
“But, even
assuming I’m willing to do this, how do we get back to the past?”
“When I go
I simply cross the threshold of Evans Plantation. There’s nothing very exact
about it. Sometimes I find myself there two or three weeks before the end,
other times I’m there only on the last day. But the crossing has never been
difficult.” He smiled, “Of course I am,
as you would have it, a ghost. I have no idea how or if it will work for you.”
“Why do you
think taking me back with you will make a difference?”
“You will
be an addition to the equation. Something new. Something that wasn’t there
before. I think in crossing you will become one with the other Amalie, but I
believe you may retain your memory of the present, of this other time and
place, as I, a ghost in this time, retain my memory of that other time. Does
that make any sense?”
Amalie
laughed. “Does any of this make sense? If I stopped to think about it I’d check
myself into a loony bin.”
“I have
been waiting centuries for you to return. Will you help me?”
Amalie
looked at Jonathan. He didn’t speak again but his eyes pled for understanding,
for help.
“I’ll try.”
Josephina
smiled. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled. Shall I go pack you a bag? How long
will you be gone?”
Jonathan
laughed. “It doesn’t work that way. We will return to exactly the day, the same
moment, when we left.” Then a worried frown crossed his face. “That is if
Amalie can return. I’m not sure how that works. I’ve never tried it with anyone
from another age before.”
Amalie
laughed. “That’s reassuring.” Looking at Jonathan, Amalie had the fleeting
thought that there could be worse things than being stuck with him for
eternity. “If we’re going to do this, we might as well do it now, before I have
time to come to my senses.”
His breath
came out in a rush. “Thank you.”
Amalie
kissed Josephina, who wished them good luck and waved them off as if they were
going on a school holiday. They took the jeep out to White Wall, where they
parked off the road and climbed through the high bush to the old foundations of
Evans plantation house.
“This is it.
This is where the portal is. When I cross the threshold you must be with me, as
close beside me as you can get. I don’t know whether it will work. And I don’t
know exactly where or when we will land. Are you ready to do this?”
Amalie
merely nodded.
“Then give
me your hands and step with me.”
Amalie
reached toward him and the faintest brush of an icy breeze touched her fingers.
Then the air began to swirl around her and the sky darkened. Wind rushed over
and around her. She felt her hands clasped in an iron grip as the earth shook
and she tumbled into an abyss, the sound of nothingness roaring in her
ears. Consciousness faded.
Book Review:
Someone said ‘The course of true
love never did run smooth’ or something like that and that is certainly the
case in this story. Amalie starts out
the story having just divorced, lost her parents, and is all alone in the world
with only her friend and business partner left.
Then she finds a note from a distant cousin who turns out to be the last
in her line also.
Amalie visits her cousin on a small
Caribbean island, falls in love, but there are problems. The she tries several times to prevent a
murder… the same murder… from 100 years ago.
Eventually she succeed but at the cost of love.
This story is intriguing. I love the idea that a ghost could find his
reincarnated love and take her back with him to find out how and why he
died. Of course solving the murder
allows him to stay in the past and sends her back alone. This story is a unique idea and cleverly written.
I give this story 4 out of 5 clouds.
This
product or book may have been distributed for review; this in no way affects my
opinions or reviews.
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