Where Ivy Dares to Grow: Sneak Peek

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Mexican Gothic meets Outlander in a debut novel in which a woman struggling with her mental health spends the winter with her cruel in-laws in their eerie, haunting manor that sweeps her back through time and into the arms of her fiancé's mysterious, alluring ancestor in the 19th century.

Traveling to be with her fiancé’s terminally ill mother in her last days, Saoirse Read expected her introduction to the family's ancestral home would be bittersweet. But the stark thrust of Langdon Hall against the cliff and the hundred darkened windows in its battered walls are almost as forbidding as the woman who lies wasting inside. Her fiancé’s parents make no secret of their distaste for Saoirse, and their feelings have long since spread to their son. Or perhaps it is only the shadows of her mind suggesting she’s unwelcome, seizing on her fears while her beloved grieves?

As Saoirse takes to wandering the estate’s winding, dreamlike gardens, overgrown and half-wild with neglect, she slips back through time to 1818. There she meets Theo Page, a man like her fiancé but softer, with all the charms of that gentler age, and who clearly harbors a fervent interest in her. As it becomes clear that Theo is her fiancé’s ancestor, and the tenuous peace of Langdon Hall crumbles around her, Saoirse finds she’s no longer sure which dreams and doubts belong to the present—and which might not be dreams at all . . .

Praise for WHERE IVY DARES TO GROW

“Where Ivy Dares to Grow delivers all the hallmarks of a classic Gothic novel told in a lyrical and hauntingly beautiful new voice.”
—Hester Fox, author of A Lullaby for Witches

“The novel tugs at the heart, filled with yearning for a real love who sees you as you really are, and the journey to step from the shadows to the sun.”
—Kim Taylor Blakemore, author of The Deception

“Richly drawn and evocative, Where Ivy Dares to Grow is a sophisticated and masterful tale […] I couldn't put this one down. Marielle Thompson is a writer to watch!”
—Paulette Kennedy, author of Parting the Veil