Where the Light Remains A Novel [Paperback]

Set at either ends of a century,Where the Light Remainsweaves the stories of two remarkable women linked by art, landscape, and the intricacies of marriage.
In 1886 Cornwall, an artist from the Newlyn School paints a portrait of a striking woman, Claira, the wife of a Methodist farmer. In the painting, Claira basks in the luminescence of a woodland sunset, violin in hand, the still air holding the notes she has just played.
In 1986, Claire, a painter, and her husband settle with their two boys in the Cornish farmhouse where Claira once lived. As Claire falls in love with the rugged landscape -- and her husband with another woman -- Claire makes two discoveries that change her as a woman and as a painter.
The lives that fill this elegant novel are a testament to the powerful ways that sensual discovery, creativity, and the experience of marriage connect women across time.Hayden Gabriellives in the southwestern part of England.Where the Light Remainsis her first novel. Chapter One

West Cornwall

1886

Munro waits at the rear of the chapel, chafing slightly at Claira's lateness and the stiffness of his collar. He peers through the finely bubbled glass. Heavy rain clouds gather and the light is failing, but still she does not come.

Beside him, the minister catches his eye,don't worry, she'll be here.

Munro purses his lips. He runs his mind over the arrangements, as if they might somehow be assembled at the wrong time. Absurd. The chapel's full. Practically the whole village has turned out and his brother, come down from Truro. Everyone here but Claira. His life feels suddenly out of kilter. He thinks of the yard at Trethenna, empty of him; thinks of the cow gone off her feed, of the wind rising and the clouds that gather. He twitches his coat. It will be dark at least an hour before time and, besides the ceremony, there's the gathering to be had. And, dear God, let her be here sool“#