On Mystic Lake

Annie Colwater’s only child has just left home for school in England. On that same day, her husband of twenty years confesses that he’s in love with a younger woman. Left alone in the beautiful California house which was once a home, Annie comes to the painful realization that the years have eroded not just her confidence but also her self-esteem, and she’s no longer the woman she once was.

Devastated, Annie retreats to Mystic, the remote lakeside town in the Pacific Northwest where she grew up, hoping that she can start to rebuild her life and rediscover herself. There, she is reunited with her first love, Nick Delacroix, recently widowed and trying to cope with his emotionally scarred young daughter.

Together, the three of them begin to heal. But just when Annie believes she’s been given a second chance at happiness, her world is turned upside down again and she is forced to make a choice that no woman in love should ever have to make.

Originally published in 1999.