The Lost Notebook

Louise Douglas

Description

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER.

A notebook full of secrets, two untimely deaths – something sinister is stirring in the perfect seaside town of Morranez…

It’s summer and holidaymakers are flocking to the idyllic Brittany coast. But when first an old traveller woman dies in suspicious circumstances, and then a campaign of hate seemingly drives another victim to take his own life, events take a very dark turn.

Mila Shepherd has come to France to look after her niece, Ani, following the accident in which both Ani’s parents were lost at sea. Mila has moved into their family holiday home, as well as taken her sister Sophie’s place in an agency which specialises in tracking down missing people, until new recruit Carter Jackson starts.

It’s clear that malevolent forces are at work in Morranez, but the local police are choosing to look the other way. Only Mila and Carter can uncover the truth about what’s really going on in this beautiful, but mysterious place before anyone else suffers. But someone is desperate to protect a terrible truth, at any cost…

Praise for Louise Douglas:
'I loved The Lost Notebook so much! From the opening lines, I was drawn in to a gripping story, beautifully written and so cleverly orchestrated. I rooted for the main character, I held my breath at the denouement and as for the climax of the book - just wow. Highly recommended.' Judy Leigh

'Louise Douglas achieves the impossible and gets better with every book.' Milly Johnson

'A brilliantly written, gripping, clever, compelling story, that I struggled to put down. The vivid descriptions, the evocative plot and the intrigue that Louise created, which had me constantly asking questions, made it a highly enjoyable, absolute treasure of a read.' Kim Nash on The Scarlet Dress

'Another stunning read from the exceptionally talented Louise Douglas! I love the way in which Louise creates such an atmospheric mystery, building the intrigue and suspense brick by brick. Her writing is always beautiful and multi-layered, her characters warm and relatable and the intriguing nature of the mystery makes this unputdownable.’ Nicola Cornick on The Scarlet Dress

'A tender, heart-breaking, page-turning read'Rachel Hore on The House by the Sea

'The perfect combination of page-turning thriller and deeply emotional family story. Superb’ Nicola Cornick on The House by the Sea

‘Kept me guessing until the last few pages and the explosive ending took my breath away.' C.L. Taylor, author of The Accident on Your Beautiful Lies

‘Beautifully written, chillingly atmospheric and utterly compelling, The Secret by the Lake is Louise Douglas at her brilliant best’ Tammy Cohen, author of The Broken

‘A master of her craft, Louise Douglas ratchets up the tension in this haunting and exquisitely written tale of buried secrets and past tragedy.’ Amanda Jennings, author of Sworn Secret

‘A clammy, atmospheric and suspenseful novel, it builds in tension all the way through to the startling final pages.’ Sunday Express, S Magazine

'A chilling, unputdownable new novel from the bestselling author of The House By The Sea.

'A brilliantly written, gripping, clever, compelling story, that I struggled to put down.'

Sujets

• Policier & Thriller
• Policier
• Thriller
• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• Mashups
• Women Sleuths
• Amateur Sleuth
• Holidays
• Siblings
• World Literature
• Literary
• Humorous
• Thrillers
• Historical
• Coming of Age
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Suspenso
• Literature
• Domestic
• Romantic Comedy
• Sibling
• General officer
• Detective
• 21st Century
• Mystery
• General
• Holiday
• Adventure
• Crime
• Family Life
• Romance
• Suspense
• Gothic
• Noir
• Fiction
• Humour
• France

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 05 septembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781838892937
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE LOST NOTEBOOK


LOUISE DOUGLAS
First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Boldwood Books Ltd.
Copyright © Louise Douglas, 2022
Cover Design by Becky Glibbery
Cover Imagery: Shutterstock
The moral right of Louise Douglas to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologise for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Paperback ISBN 978-1-83889-292-0
Large Print ISBN 978-1-80483-390-2
Hardback ISBN 978-1-80483-391-9
Ebook ISBN 978-1-83889-293-7
Kindle ISBN 978-1-83889-294-4
Audio CD ISBN 978-1-83889-290-6
MP3 CD ISBN 978-1-80483-389-6
Digital audio download ISBN 978-1-83889-291-3


Boldwood Books Ltd
23 Bowerdean Street
London SW6 3TN
www.boldwoodbooks.com
CONTENTS



Prologue

Bretagne Today

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

Chapter 63


Acknowledgments

More from Louise Douglas

About the Author

About Boldwood Books
For Dad, Michael Beer
21 st August 1934 – 6 th May 2022
With my love xxx
PROLOGUE
MORANNEZ, BRITTANY

I have found him , the old woman wrote, the last of the seven.
She dragged the pen beneath the sentence, scoring an underline. She felt no satisfaction; no sense of victory; only sorrow.
And she was tired.
The light was fading and her eyes were hurting. She had done enough for now.
She picked up her phone and took a photograph of what she’d written. Then she lay the pen in the gulley between the open pages and put the book carefully on the ground beside her.
She leaned back in her chair beside the smoky little fire, and closed her eyes, rubbing at the pain in her knuckles. Somewhere in the woodland, an owl hooted.
When she started this quest the woman had been driven by passion and a desire for revenge. Now she only wanted it to be over, so she could go home.
It wouldn’t be long. Soon, she would pass the book into the hands of the authorities. Justice would be served. Lessons would be learned.
The woman pulled the shawl tighter around her shoulders. The chair was padded with cushions, the fire was company of a kind and she was comfortable. She wasn’t yet ready to climb into the old horsebox that she currently called home. She dreaded its dark interior; the loneliness; the struggle to sleep; the nightmares that assaulted her when she did.
She closed her eyes and recalled the red-tiled roofs of the houses in the town where she used to live, and beyond, the snowy peaks of the mountains. She remembered the café she and her family used to visit on Saturday mornings, her husband folding his newspaper and laying it down on the table with his spectacles on top. She recalled him catching her eye, taking her hand, raising it to his gentle lips. And their son, their only child, looking out across the square, waving to a schoolfriend. The waiter, a young man with blonde curly hair, bringing their coffee, saying: ‘Isn’t it a beautiful day?’ The petrol smell of that aftershave all the boys used to wear in the eighties; the young man’s confident, wide smile.
No, she wouldn’t think of him.
The old woman sat by the fire, beside her rickety old van in the middle of the countryside and she sifted through her favourite memories, pulling them out like cards from a pack. Singing to her baby son in the dappled shade of the birch tree. The dimples on his fingers; the softness of his skin. Holding him on her lap as he fell asleep, kissing the dark hair. His first day at school; the pictures he used to bring home. A card for Mother’s Day: a flower made of red tissue paper glued to a piece of cardboard .
She still had the card, but she no longer had the boy.
That was why she was here.
Because she loved him with all her heart and every atom of her being.
Because of love.
Because of him.
Story on the front page of Bretagne Today, the newspaper for English-speaking residents of north-west France
Could Morannez dig reveal the grave of the French Tutankhamun?
A six-month project being hailed as the most important archaeological excavation in decades began this week outside the seaside town of Morannez in southern Finistère.
A specialist team, including students from the University of Rennes, has been given the green light to excavate privately owned land close to the spot where the ‘Morannez Hind’ was discovered earlier this year.
The twenty centimetre whalebone statuette of an antelope was found in a cornfield, close to the famous Kyern dolmen. Tests have shown that it was carved more than 10,000 years ago.
The dig’s director and lead archaeologist, Professor Timor Perry, said: ‘Even in a region blessed with more than its fair share of standing stones, ancient burial tombs, and other Mesolithic and Megalithic remains, this discovery is exceptional and is generating an enormous amount of excitement amongst archaeologists, anthropologists and social historians worldwide.’
Professor Perry, 49, of Cambridge University, is one of Europe’s leading authorities into the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, the period which lasted between 10,000 and 8,000 BC.
Preliminary ground works for the construction of a new restaurant on the site have been halted for six months to give the archaeology team the chance to investigate thoroughly.
A spokesperson for the dig sponsor, the World Archaeological Society, said: ‘The Middle Stone Age was a time when our ancestors honed their creative and artistic skills. The rise of agriculture meant they were becoming settled, rather than nomadic, people. This gave them the time and space to paint, sculpt and decorate their utensils.’
In a paper submitted to the World Archaeological Society Magazine, Professor Perry heralded the find of the statuette as ‘one of the most exciting ever to be discovered in Northern Europe’.
Project spokesperson and educational co-ordinator Alban Hugo, a teacher at Morannez International School, added: ‘We’re hoping the Hind is the first of many treasures to be uncovered. This site could be Europe’s answer to the tomb of Tutankhamun!’
Pictured below are Professor Perry, holding a replica of the Hind, with Monsieur Hugo and Rennes University student volunteers beside the Kyern dolmen. The dolmen will remain open to visitors throughout the duration of the dig. Visit www.kyerndolmen.fr for more information.
1
THURSDAY, 28 JULY

It was nine o’clock in the evening, and still Ani was not home. Her aunt, Mila, pulled the two sides of her cardigan tight over her chest and walked to the gate at the end of the garden. The light was fading fast and Ani had promised she’d be back an hour ago.
Mila took her phone from the pocket of her shorts and checked for messages or missed calls. Nothing.
Where was Ani? Where was she?
Mila went out of the gate and walked fifty paces along the track beyond. There was no sign of Ani. No creaking of her bike chain, no dark shadow moving between the hedgerows that might be her, coming home.
It’ s probably fine, Mila told herself.
Ani is almost certainly perfectly fine.
It was highly unlikely that she’d been abducted or assaulted or raped or run over or got into a car driven by a teenage junkie.
Unlikely but not impossible.
Earlier, a long time earlier, at breakfast that morning, Ani had told Mila she was going to her friend, Pernille Sohar’s house after school. ‘I’ll be back before eight,’ she’d said.
Pernille’s family lived in a luxurious modern villa up on the hill overlooking the coast. The girls were planning to celebrate the end of term by swimming in the Sohar family’s pool and then having supper together.
Cecille Toussaint, Ani’s grandmother and Mila’s stepmother, had a suspicion Pernille’s brother, JP, was the reason why Ani was suddenly keen on spending so much time at the Sohars’. Mila wasn’t so sure. She hadn’t observed Ani showing any of that kind of interest in boys yet.
Now she wondered if Ceci might be right. If she was, then wasn’t it possible that Ani had gone for a walk with JP, that the two of them were in the woods that surrounded the Sohars’ villa, perhaps, alone in the dusk? With alcohol? Was it appropriate for a fourteen-year-old girl to be on her own with a fifteen-year-old boy and a bottle of pastis?
What do you think, Sophie? Mila wondered.
She didn’t need a response. If Ani’s mother, Sophie, was still alive, she would have been happy for Ani to be with JP because Sophie assum