Island holds secrets in ‘Violets of March’

When best-selling author Emily Wilson’s world came crashing down around her, she retreated to the one place where she always felt happiest — her beloved Aunt Bee’s home on Bainbridge Island.

Life's a little slower, sights and smells are a little sweeter, and a person can regroup and regain perspective on life while wading in the Puget Sound.

But Emily is surprised to find that her aunt seems to be a little standoffish during this visit, a little distracted. When Emily discovers an antique red velvet diary hidden in her bedroom, she soon finds that the island is hiding more than a few secrets, and as the story within the fragile pages begins to unravel, the big mystery seems to be directly related to Emily’s life.

As Emily finds herself drawn into the 1943 diary of Esther Hanson, a woman with her own share of grief and heartache, Emily finds many parallels and coincidences that connect to island life and its residents today, but when she tries to talk to her Aunt Bee about it, she runs into a stone wall. As Emily researches the mysterious Esther, the men who loved her and her unresolved disappearance, she finds her self-confidence returning.

Emily also finds a little romance coming back into her life as two men, one from her past, and one recently met, vie for her attention and affections. Perhaps there is a cure for heartache in this island air, a fact that is encouraged by the appearance of the illusive wood violets — tiny flowers that choose to appear to those in need of healing.

In “The Violets of March,” debut author Sarah Jio beautifully blends the stories of two women — one of the past, one of the present — together to create a captivating and enthralling novel of romance, heartache and redemption.

Part mystery, part romance, “The Violets of March” is 100 percent an enjoyable read that will have readers anxiously awaiting Sarah Jio’s next novel.