This story takes place between 1901 and 1921. It is set in a quiet village in the Welsh Marches where two old men, The Reverend ApIvor, and Old Eli, disagree over a moral issue that ends their long friendship. Each does so willingly to conceal the young people in their keeping – to protect them and their secrets, but their well-intentioned actions have serious repercussions for the future.
Years later, upon the death of Old Eli, a young woman, Lily, discovers her true identity and is suddenly thrust into a world of prejudice, anger, and revenge for the past. At odds with her affluent, middle class upbringing is the revelation that her mother, Mahalia, was raised a Romani. Within days Lily is abducted, and narrowly escapes with her life. Fleeing, she finds help and friendship amongst the people she fears. She returns home determined to discover her true origins and locate her real father. When the Reverend ApIvor learns of his old friend’s involvement with Mahalia and Lily, he wishes to make amends concerning his actions long ago.
In Australia, Lily’s real father, using the name Harry Jenkins, learns of Lily’s existence and determines to meet her. He must convince his daughter that he did not desert her mother willingly all those years ago. He returns to England seeking redemption and hoping to be reunited with Mahalia. Unbeknown to Lily, her mother is dying of tuberculosis, a common cause of death amongst the Romani during that period. Harry and Lily meet after Mahalia’s funeral, but are not destined for happiness immediately. Someone else is out for revenge, someone closer to home who wants payback for feeling abandoned and betrayed by him all those years ago. When Harry changed his name he left England by selling his identity illegally. Now, through malice, the criminals who bought his authentic papers have been alerted to his presence. They want to remove all proof of that original transaction. Harry must return to Australia to escape detection. Now it is Lily who must protect her father and keep his departure secret. They have nothing left but hope.
http://dmlewis-author.com/index.php/eli-secret
For twenty years ‘Old’ Eli Jenkins has kept a secret – a secret that will determine the fate of a young woman. Upon his death, Lily’s world crumbles as she sees her privilege and future opportunities slip away. Yet she is not without hope. There is one person who can offer her a chance of happiness in the New World, but first she must forgive him. Set in the early 1900s, this is the story of two families torn apart by conflict, suspicion and betrayal, and takes us from a safe village backwater in the Welsh Marches to the drought-ridden perils of the Australian outback. The harsh reality of racial prejudice is told from both sides in an era when Gypsies were a common sight in the hop yards and by-ways of Herefordshire.