Woman in Red

the long version

From the New York Times bestselling author and one of the most compelling and insightful writers of contemporary fiction comes a powerful story about love and redemption, and what one woman will do to overcome the personal tragedy that has stripped her of all she held dear. Alice Kessler spent nine years in prison for the attempted murder of the drunk driver who killed her eldest son. Now she has returned home to Gray's Island to reconnect with the son she left behind. Her boy, Jeremy, now an angry teenager, is falsely accused of rape, and so mother and son are united in a desperate attempt to prove his innocence. At the same time, Alice must battle the man responsible for putting her behind bars, who has since become the mayor of her hometown. She is aided by Colin McGinty, a recovering alcoholic and 9/11 widower, also recently returned to the island following the death of his grandfather, a famous artist best known for his haunting portrait entitled "Woman in Red," which just so happens to be of Alice's grandmother. As Alice and Colin are drawn into a fragile romance of their own, the strange destiny that connects them gradually comes to light. In a tale that weaves the past with the present, we come to know the story behind the portrait, of the forbidden wartime romance between William McGinty and Eleanor Styles, and the deadly secret that bound them more tightly than ever in their love for each other. A secret that, more than half a century later, is about to be unburied.