A Break in the Clouds

Castles are built one stone at a time…an Irish proverb



Hawthorn Village

Ireland 1840

Miss Natty took a short-cut through the woods and walked into a disaster. Undernourished children stood over their dying mother. The husband soothed a crying infant. Natty took the baby and said she’d fetch bread and milk for the others. When she returned to the woods, the peddler’s wagon was gone.


Sir Finbarr O’Bannon is not rebuilding Ashcourt Manor in his mother’s memory – he’s rebuilding it to heal his heart. Then with a clear conscience, he intends to sell the manor and walk away from his past. He will return to Swansea, Wales, and his copper mines where he’s built an honorable and respected life.


Miss Brianna Walsh has painted likenesses of Ashcourt Manor through the years. She embellishes the canvas with flowers in the field, or a grinning elfin face peeking out a window in an effort to ease the feeling of rejection that lurks in the shadows of her mind. Because like her, Ashcourt has been abandoned. She secretly struggles with insecurity arresting notions of a traditional future.