Can a lifetime of pain, loss, and despair be healed with the truth, and will forgiveness allow love a second chance?

Katherine is a successful businesswoman living and working in London, but she’s estranged from her husband and family back in Jersey and hiding from the pain of failed motherhood.

As a major murder and child abuse investigation launches in her childhood home, a letter arrives from the dying mother of her teenage friend – the friend whose death Katherine caused 32 years before. As the island of Jersey faces up to its hidden past, Katherine is forced to face up to hers and the guilt that she’s carried ever since.

She knows she must return home, tell the truth and seek the forgiveness she needs; but Katherine isn’t the only one with secrets…

Will laying bare the truth open hidden wounds and destroy her family completely? Or will it heal the rift and open the door to the possibility of love?

Set against the real-life events of 2008 that shocked the beautiful island of Jersey, this is a story that deals with difficult subjects, honestly and compassionately.

Be prepared to cry at this powerful, beautifully written story that takes you on Katherine’s journey from a naïve childhood, riven with guilt, and to a lonely adult who knows it’s time to face up to her hidden past and seek redemption.

Islands a page-turning story of love, secrets and regrets by Gwyn Garfield-Bennett

“This is a beautifully written story by a writer with a powerful and individual voice. If you read only one book this year – make sure it’s this one.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Islands Reader review

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Sarah and Mark have been together for over 20 years. Two decades of memories, marriage, and love. Two decades of familiarity, boredom, and resentment. When Mark fails to come home one night, it rips their family apart, starting a heart-breaking roller-coaster journey to find him.

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Copyright © 2026 Gwyn Bennett. All Rights Reserved.