The Man in the Painting

A captivating dual timeline mystery romance, set in Lyme Regis.

A novel spanning two centuries, set against the historic backdrop of the Jurassic coast, about a painting that links one family, the quest to solve a mysterious death and, ultimately, the search for love.

’The windswept beaches of Lyme Regis conceal prehistoric jewels, awaiting discovery by those with ’the eye’.

1824

After being struck by lightning as a baby, Mary Anning was gifted special powers. One of these gifts was uncovering dinosaur fossils in the cliffs near her home, setting the world of geology alight with her discoveries. However, surrounded by fierce prejudice in a male-dominated world, she was forced to watch as visiting geologists claimed her discoveries as their own.

When childhood friend George Hansome reappeared in Mary’s life and their mutual attraction strengthened, he vowed to fight for scientific recognition for her. But George’s actions put him in grave danger and led to a tragedy which Mary was powerless to prevent.

Present-Day

Ready to face her past, Marine biologist Eliza Valentine returns to Lyme Regis where her fiancé, Liam, drowned on a boat trip ten years earlier. But a forgotten painting, hanging on the wall of her mother’s teashop, triggers disturbing memories.

With the discovery that the man in the painting is an ancestor of local palaeontologist, Rafe Hansome, and as deeper feelings grow between them, Eliza and Rafe begin to uncover the mystery of George’s fate and his connection to Mary Anning. But Eliza’s obsession to uncover the truth causes her to ignore looming danger on the perilous shores of Lyme Regis where Mary once searched for fossils, putting Eliza and Rafe at risk of losing everything.