Alyda’s Bluff
by
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Drops of water slither down the back of the cave, feed streams that twist through the rocks to the ocean. I look for two stones that once served as supports for a wooden plank, but I find nothing. Thousands of high tides have long washed away any evidence of their trysts.
I sense that Alyda won’t appear to me here, but I’ll try to summon an image, invoke her presence from the meetings here with Caleb long ago. I close my eyes and I think of her, slipping into the entrance, breath shallow from the effort of negotiating the rocks. And yes, I see her now– steel-blue eyes luminous, cheeks flushed, hair wind-tangled. Feel her skin tingling, her heart thrumming with anticipation.
And Caleb…
With a start, I realize that I cannot invoke Caleb.
My eyes fly open and I shake my head. As if all that’s required is a collision of cells. They met here countless times; he will come. And as I wait, a cloud steals the sunlight; a shadow seals the entrance to the cave. Fear surges, pounds at the confines of my skull.
The shadow taunts me. It contracts, provides a saving glimpse of the sea in the distance. I hurl myself against it, but it expands again, throws me back into the depths of the cave as if I were a rag doll. Crouched on my hands and knees, jeans soaked in the streams of water, I draw deep breaths until I’m ready to stand again.
The shadow is gone. Dissolved? In retreat? My legs burn as they carry me to the entrance of the cave. I raise one hand, turn it. The palm is scraped raw, speckled with blood. The hand begins to shake, and soon every inch of my body is shaking as well.
What happened to me?
What happened to them?
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About the Book
It is the summer of 1972, and writer Rianne Tavener returns to the seaside village of Port Carlyle, Nova Scotia, her childhood home. Owen Sweeney, an eccentric museum curator and guardian of the local burying ground, hires Rianne to oversee projects for the village’s upcoming bicentennial celebrations. He shows her the damaged Victorian-era journal of the young woman who is buried beneath the graveyard’s most distinctive headstone. Alyda Teasdale was seventeen and unmarried in 1897, the year she and her newborn baby died under mystifying circumstances.
Intrigued by the journal, Rianne carefully reconstructs its entries. She traces Alyda’s history as the young woman grieves the loss of her sea captain father, struggles against the dictates of her authoritarian stepfather, and experiences the euphoria of forbidden love. Owen Sweeney, citing a secret source, provides important details that are missing in the journal, but insists on controlling the project. Rianne turns to Ben Allenby, a childhood friend, for further help in piecing together Alyda’s tragic tale. He complicates Rianne’s task, however, by awakening feelings in her that have long been buried. Overwhelmed, Rianne begins seeing visions of a young Victorian-era woman. Has Alyda returned to help her in her quest, she wonders, or are the images creations of her own imagination?
In this compelling mystery tale, as Rianne uncovers the fate of a nineteenth-century woman and her baby, she discovers that even in heartbreak, life offers two constants: love and hope.
About the Author
Cordelia Hare, a freelance writer and former ESL instructor, holds a BA in modern languages from the University of Toronto. The mother of three daughters, she enjoys capturing heritage graveyards on camera. She has lived in four provinces of Canada and currently resides in Calgary, Alberta. Alyda’s Bluff is her first novel. Visit her online at cordeliahare.com.