When their mother Eleanor dies, siblings Byron and Benny (Benedetta) Bennett reunite for the first time in years. Byron still holds a grudge because Benny didn’t come to their father’s funeral. Unbeknownst to him, Benny had intended to come to the funeral, but her former boyfriend had beaten her so badly she looked a fright and she chickened out. Now thrown together in their grief over their mother, the Bennett siblings learn about a half-sister food writer Mabel.
Eleanor left behind audio recordings of her life story: they take the three siblings back to the Caribbean island where Eleanor grew up. Except her name wasn’t Eleanor, it was Coventina “Covey” Lyncook. Her parents were Johnny “Lin” Lyncook (a Chinese immigrant and shop owner) and Mathilda Brown (a local Caribbean baker). Mathilda left the family when Covey was a small girl, because she couldn’t deal with Johnny’s gambling and drinking. Johnny’s gambling debts got so bad that he lost his shop and eventually forcing Covey to be promised to an older local crime lord (Clarence “Little Man” Henry) to clear his accounts.
On their wedding day Little Man drops dead and Covey disappeared off the face of the earth. Covey moves to Britain to make a life there. When her friend Eleanor suggests they move from London to Scotland, the train they’re on derails and in the confusion of the aftermath Covey is mistaken for her friend Eleanor. Covey Brown (the name she used in London) is declared dead and Covey starts using her friend’s name: Eleanor Douglas.
After a while, Eleanor returns to London where she bumps into the love of her life: Gibbs Grant. Covey and Gibbs were teenage sweethearts on the island and he had thought she was dead. He adopts the name Bert Bennett and the two move to California where their children Byron and Benedetta were born.
This book has it all: an unsolved murder, a romance for the ages, and a mystery child. I absolutely loved it!
Read for the Read Between the Lines Reading Challenge 2026
Prompt 8: Food on the Cover or in the Title
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
