Three women, somehow connected through time

Synopsis

In an underground labyrinth a lost soul wanders, waiting for revenge, waiting for love… 

London 1900

Alice Webster has made the worst decision of her life. When her Aunt Agatha offers her the chance to go on a Grand Tour she jumps at the opportunity to get away from the glare of scandal. Heading off to see the world as the century turns, Alice begins to believe her broken heart can be healed, and a chance encounter on a train bound for Paris changes everything. When their journey takes them to a Cretan house thick with history, and the world-famous dig at Knossos, stories from the past begin to echo through Alice’s life.

London Present Day

Eloise De’Ath is meant to be a grieving widow. But if people knew the truth about her late husband, they’d understand why she can’t even pretend. Needing to escape, Eloise heads to Crete and the house her father-in-law Quinn left her, and slowly Quinn’s home begins to reveal its mysteries. In his office Eloise discovers his life’s work: the study of the Victorian excavation to find the Minotaur’s labyrinth. Fascinated by the diaries of a young woman from the dig, Eloise is drawn into Alice’s tale of lost love and her growing obsession with Ariadne, the princess of the labyrinth.

Three women divided by time but connected by the long-hidden secrets of the past. As their stories join in a golden thread, a terrible injustice might finally be undone…

My review

In London 1900, Alice Webster has made a terrible mistake, one that she will regret forever. Despite her family’s support, she jumps at the opportunity to join her Aunt Agatha on a Grand Tour. At least there she will not be followed by the scandal.
Going visiting the most beautiful places in Europe, slowly Alice starts to believe that her broken heart can be healed. And once in Crete, Alice finds a passion at a dig in Knossos she didn’t know she had. She gets intrigued by the tales and legends of monsters and labyrinths.
And somehow her tale get entwined with that of Eloise De’Ath in the present time. Even if Eloise is a recent widow, she is not the heartbroken woman everyone expects her to be. Because her late husband was not what everyone thinks.
Needing an escape too, she flies over to Crete, to the house she inherited from her father – in – law Quinn. There she finds herself submerged in his life’s work, the study of the Victorian excavation and the search for the Minotaur’s labyrinth, after finding the diaries of a young woman who worked at the dig.
These two women have one thing in common: their interest in the true tale of Ariadne, princess of the labyrinth. 

Dual timelines are always tricky, and somehow this was also a bit of a triple timeline, even greater risk of making things complicated!
Yet the author managed easily to keep the two main stories separated but also linking them without confusing her readers. 

Of both main female character, I found it easier to like Eloise. Even if we don’t know the complete background from the start, it’s easy to see that things are not as simple as it may seem.
And even if you wouldn’t have an inkling about it, the way Eloise’s late husband’s family treated Eloise, you would know that there is more to her story. 

Her escaping to Crete could be seen as a cowardly action, but it gave us also the opportunity to truly get to know Eloise, without a dark cloud surrounding her, literally and figuratively speaking.
We see her opening up, and that Eloise was such a bright, kind and colourful character. Yet her being in Crete also allows her to open up about her past and her multiple struggles during her marriage.
And reading those bits was so saddening and so hurtful, but unfortunately at some levels also a reality for people in the world. 

And then there is Alice’s story… Just like Eloise, we don’t know the full extent of what the scandal is, the only thing we do know, is that involves a man and that Alice’s heart is truly broken.
Even if we don’t know the details, and when we finally do, I liked it how she still had her family’s support and how they wanted to protect her. 

In Alice’s story I liked to read how Alice realized that how terrible she may be feeling, with a broken heart, that time will heel the wounds. Slowly she starts to see things no longer through rose – colored glasses.
And what I liked the most is how one chance encounter would turn out to be of a greater importance later on. 

On a smaller account, there is even a third story told here, one we all think we know, but  perhaps with a kinder and gentler touch, even if the final outcome is the time. And it’s the tale of Ariadne and the Minotaur that ends up being the common tread, that what links Eloise and Alice. 

But even if Ariadne’s story is what brings Eloise and Alice together, the three women have one thing all in common… they have been all betrayed in a terrible yet different way by someone who was supposed to love them.
However, towards the end, they all find the strength to overcome their initial pain and even dare to have feelings of love again in one way or another, and these feelings will be for one that will be truly worthy of their hearts. 

And even if perhaps, from my personal view, that last final step was taken a bit too hastened, I admired all these women for not giving up on love… Because everyone deserves to find happiness, and how we get there, the quick way or the long way, it doesn’t matter as the reward will be worth of the journey!