When Marie's grandmother dies and leaves a suitcase full of paintings Marie is thrust into a world that pre-dates her grandmother, Margaret. She believes it's possible that Margaret may not have had the same father as her siblings and Marie's search for her true lineage leads her to question the importance of family. Mary Bell returns in a sequel to Scarlet Runner. The aftermath of the Waihi gold strike sees her teaching music in Auckland but still grieving for the fiance she lost in 1912. The outbreak of the Great War provides an opportunity for Mary to cast aside her grief and she serves as a volunteer nurse initially consigned to Belgium. A series of events lead her to abscond from the horrors of Ypres traveling first to Russia and then to Paris, her nursing days buried under her new love - art. Mary meets the formative avant-garde artists of the day starting with Franz Marc, co-founder of the expressionist group The Blue Rider. Mary's associations with Malevich, Kandinsky, Chagall, Modigliani, Picasso and Klee provide Marie with ample material to fuel her fantasy that her great-grandfather could have been one of these famous artists. Garrick, a former Waihi miner and confidante of Mary enters the war in France as a tunneler. He is frustrated that the war is two years old before he is called up. Garrick relays news of Mary's younger brother Percy's infantry exploits through Gallipoli, the Somme, Messines and then at Arras where he was deployed to assist in building the biggest tunnel system in France. Garrick and Mary meet away from the Western Front. Garrick's love for Mary is plain and honest, but her world and the ghosts that walk with her threaten to keep her from him. As Marie puzzles over the paintings and pieces together the past reading letters found in an old shoebox she is haunted by her perceived failure at motherhood and encouraged to establish contact with her estranged son. The painful realisation that she is making history repeat itself pries open her heavy heart. There is a light, however, in Anthony, Margaret's next door neighbour who tackles the mystery of the paintings in a much more pragmatic manner. The strands within the story are beautifully woven together and yet each painting narrative could stand alone. The reader is swept along on Marie's journey while losing herself in the exotic stories of Mary, just as Marie does.
About the Author: Lily Ennis lives in rural Thames, New Zealand. Her interests are wide reaching and although she has a business degree as well as a geology degree it is the arts that drive her. A contemporary embroiderer who dabbles in tapestry weaving, crochet and knitting, Lily keenly follows modern art for inspiration for her zany work. Writing novels is an extension of her creative ability and her background in geological disciplines aids her ability to construct plausible contexts. Her first novel, Fire in the Mountain draws heavily on the geology of Mt Ruapehu and much of the action is centred in Rangipo Hut, a favourite of Lily's. History is visited in this novel as a flash back to World War II when the New Zealanders fought at Monte Cassino. Seaton's War, her second novel combines science with World War II history and is set in small town New Zealand. This time an astrophysicist's attempt to measure precisely the distance of the moon from the earth carries the reader to the Pacific theatre of that war. Lily's first historical novel, Scarlet Runner, covers the turbulent Waihi gold mine strike of 1912. In it's day the town was an important centre of industry and the strike changed New Zealand's political landscape forever. Blue Rider, an 'art' novel follows on from Scarlet Runner in that some of the characters join the Great War. The tunnelers from Waihi who were valuable assets in France and notable artists chiefly based in Paris who did not go to war, are examined against the major campaigns at that time. Lily has also written some Fantasy Adventure short stories which are heavily influenced by her love of science and fiction. These feature a Dragon who is on a quest to find his family, and his pilot, the lovely Wabbit.