The Wife's Secret

 The Wife's Secret

Barbara Hannay



Reviewed by Helen


This is another beautiful story from Barbara Hannay, her stories are moving, relatable they have awesome characters who are so easy to like and get to know and the settings are the best, this one starts with a cyclone, cyclone Pixie we are at Beacon Bay in Far North Queensland, it was a hard book to put down.

Rolf and Lisa Anders had a bitter divorce years ago and both have moved on with their lives, Rolf living further up north and he has made his dream come true of becoming a successful author and Lisa has become a pillar in the community of Beacon Bay she is on many committees and always ready with a helping hand, but when the cyclone comes through and a tee falls on the roof on Lisa’s house, their youngest son Dave who is now owner of a café in Beacon Bay convinces his builder father to come back and repair the house that he built for his family, this causes some tension, especially when Rolf arrives with the beautiful opera singer Renata.

Then arriving in town is young Ellie, Renata’s publicist but with the town in turmoil with no electricity and trees down and all the damage done Ellie ends up meeting Dave Anders and there is a spark, Ellie ends up staying at Dave’s small flat above the café, will there be a romance between Ellie and Dave?

With Rolf and Lisa pushed into spending time together as the community rebuilds, maybe it is time to open up about the past and see if there can be a future for friendship after all that they have been through in the past as a family, but will it turn into more than just friendship can Lisa risk her heart and let her secret out and can Rolf put all that happened behind and look to rebuilding their relationship?

I loved this story, I felt like I was in the cyclone the writing is so real and Lisa and Rolf are such awesome characters they are so real and MS Hannay has bought them to life on the pages I felt all of the emotions they both felt, and Dave and Ellie I loved them too they both deserve such happiness and maybe Beacon Bay is the best place for Ellie to make her future in.

I loved the way the community came together after the cyclone the effort that was put into rebuilding and I felt what they all went through, this is a story that I do highly recommend, I loved it and I never miss a Barbara Hannay story they are must reads they are always a wonderful read and so very heartwarming.

My thanks to Penguin Random House for my copy to read and review.

5 stars
July 23, 2024 by Penguin Random House Australia