John Wheatley

The Weeping Sands John Wheatley

Three narratives of love and loss are interwoven in John Wheatley's novel which is set on the isle of Anglesey, Wales. Spanning 350 years, from English Civil War to present day, a ruined mansion provides the link between past and present. Meanwhile, the `weeping sands` of the title, the Lavan Sands, at the eastern edge of the Menai Strait provides a melancholy background to the novel`s events. Jenna Shaw, 32, children`s TV presenter, is invited to take par t in a TV show exploring her ancestry, a quest which will take her, ultimately, to the ruined mansion of Baron Hill, in Beaumaris, Anglesey. 350 years earlier, Thomas Cheadle, despised for his affair with Lady Anne Bulkeley , and blamed for the death of her husband, prepares to play his part as the Civil War reaches Wales. Isobel Harcourt, recovering from a breakdown following a failed love affair with artist, James Pennington, and in the protection of her sister, is taken to Beaumaris, Anglesey, to convalesce. The year is 1831. How do Isobel`s strange delusions link the past and the present? What will be the outcome of Jenna`s quest?