Can you get a fresh start while the past is still haunting you and your loved ones?

Synopsis

When Cate Rivers leaves her husband in the middle of the night with their young daughter, Eliza, she has no idea what the future holds. Taking a live-in position at Hollow House on the Dorset coast, she determines to make a new life for her and Eliza. 

But Cate’s new boss, fossil hunter Charles Thorner, could do without the problems of a couple of runaways under his roof. He’s got enough worries of his own, including a painful past which still holds him prisoner today.

As the two of them learn to work alongside each other, secrets are shared and a new closeness is found, but they soon discover that you can only hide from the past for so long…

The Way to the Sea is the latest heartwarming novel by the bestselling author of The Beauty of Broken Things and The Rose Girls.

My review

Cate Rivers has no other option than leaving her husband in the middle of the night. Her marriage wasn’t a happy one, and for her and her daughter’s sake, they needed to get out of there as fast as possible.
Cate is determined to build a new life, together with Eliza on the Dorset coast, and she even has found a live – in position at Hollow House.
But her boss, Charles Thorner, wasn’t aware that Cate would come with a child, and he for sure could do without their problems. Especially as he has his own problems and traumas.
However, slowly, and with Eliza’s interest in fossils, exactly Charles expertise, things start to change at Hollow House…
And both Cate and Charles learn to trust each other, not only wit their problems but also with their secrets, even if those demons come and resurface, and it’s time to face them once and for all… 

Victoria Connelly is one of those authors that never write easy stories. All her books include characters that aren’t having an easy life, there is always something haunting them.
Yet all her characters are so easy to like and love, and has you rooting for them from the first paragraph in the book. 

And this book isn’t an exception… 

We get to know Cate as an unhappy woman. Even worse, as a woman who is afraid of her husband, fearing for her life, and her daughter’s.
While we are luckily spared from the details, we immediately understand her and the choice she has made to flee the scene. 

I can only try to understand the hardship she had to endure, and it’s clear to see how this disturbed marriage effected poor Eliza…
It angers me so much to see how a person only dares to behave that way, just to feel superior…  

On the other hand, I was happy to see that Cate could count on the friendship and kindness of Allie, even if they haven’t been in touch for years.
With my faith lost with Cate’s husband, Allie’s actions restored my faith completely. Allie gives Cate all the possible help by even finding Cate an employment and a place to stay. 

An employment that doesn’t start very well, as her boss doesn’t know he has hired a ‘package – deal’.
I have to be honest, Charles’ behaviour at the start didn’t score any brownie points…
He is cold, stand – offish, even rude at moments. And yes, him being a fossil hunter didn’t help for sure, as I don’t have any kind of feelings towards fossils! 

However…
Slowly we get to understand why Charles acts the way he does. And my heart just broke for him… I am not going to give anything away, but I could understand why he is being distant, as I could feel him carrying the worries of the world on his shoulders… 

And of course, seeing him with Eliza, showing his patience, even his acceptance towards Eliza’s own particular situation, well, it made my heart just melt while I was reading!
I loved seeing this complete other side of Mr. Fossil, showing that first impressions can absolutely be wrong! 

Obviously, while Cate, Eliza and Charles are finding each other, trusting each other and starting to see a whole new life, things couldn’t keep going uphill…
And even if it didn’t come as a total surprise, it kept me sitting on the edge of my seat! And even if the resolution of it came a bit ‘too easy’, it also made complete sense. 

Beside cate’s story, the author also takes her time to let us get to know Allie and her own little family a bit better.
And while I loved those bits too, I also felt like it was a missed opportunity… because I absolutely loved Allie, and I wouldn’t have minded to let her have her own, separate tale to tell us, without having to share the spotlight. 

But it also helped to show us that no family is perfect, that families comes in different shapes and forms. No family is perfect, and in each family there has to be room for communication, but also finding compromises.
And it also shows us that members of a family can be found when you least expect it. 

I loved reading this book, as the author managed to get me again on a wonderful emotional rollercoaster. It shows us the ugliness of life, but especially the beauty and the strength of life and people. Because no matter how broken you appear to be, there will always be a strength in you, ready to fight for perhaps not your own happiness per se, but for the happiness of the person you love and treasure the most.
And with that same strength, you will be able to pick up the pieces (or fossils?) of your own life and be ready to start all over again, with again your hope and faith and courage to love restored!