"When one of her authors invites her to Wales for the Christmas holidays, literary agent Lyn Ravenshaw hopes to escape the nightmares that have plagued her since the death of her baby five years before.

But shortly after she arrives at her host’s house, Lyn meets Elen, an emotionally fragile young widow who’s afraid for her infant son’s safety, and seems to view Lyn as the child’s protector." ( )

Lyn Ravenshaw travels to Wales in the company of one of her clients for Christmas. Bridget is an author and quite a character. She is going to stay with another author named James Swift, who is likely looking for a new agent, but she's in pursuit of another man. Gareth Gwyn Morgan is a reclusive playwright that Lyn's company really, really wants to sign.

Lyn finds herself in the middle of Bridget's romantic plot but is more concerned with the plight of a young widow named Elen and her baby named Stevie. Lyn has a problem with babies. She's still grieving the death of her infant Justin. She is alarmed and disturbed to learn that Elen sees her as a protector for her son on the basis of dreams of Merlin and a woman named Margaret.

Lyn also finds that the recurring nightmares which have plagued her since the death of her baby are also now featuring Margaret and Merlin. She doesn't want to believe in anything mystical and investigates to see who might be playing mean pranks on Elen who is already emotionally fragile.

Lyn is aided in her investigation by Gareth who has named himself Elen's protector because of his friendship with her deceased husband. Lyn and Gareth's relationship is a slow growing one. They get off to quite a bad start since he's reclusive and suspicious of her motives since her company has been very intent on signing him to their literary agency. She just thinks that he's rude even while greatly admiring his work as a playwright.

The story is infused with Welsh mythology and is also very emotionally intense. Katherine Kellgren does a wonderful job portraying and ramping up the drama in the story. ( )

It is not my favorite of her books, but I enjoyed it. But, that may be as it is an earlier novel - which has been re-released. ( )

Lots of gorgeous writing about long rambling walks along the sea and moors-- and not much else. ( )

Susanna Kearsley is one of my new favorite authors. I love spending a few hours in her novels. She is very descriptive, and I love her characters. Her books remind me of the really good Mary Stewart gothic romances that I grew up reading (and many of which I still enjoy). This was one of my favorites by this author. ( )