The Cost of Promises: The Dangers of Trust

Clare's book, "The Cost of Promises: The Dangers of Trust", is a wondrous, poignant blend of historical fiction, mystery, and suspense that challenges how the promises that women make under stress can have devastating consequences that span across generations to come. Inherently a cautionary tale, the story starts off with the protagonist Meredith, who is by her grandmother's bedside while she is dying. Her grandmother demands her to go to Lake Wentworth in New Hampshire to help her family. Meredith follows her grandmother's advice and finds herself drawn to the town while also coming across a ghost of a distressed young woman who's looking for her child who has gone missing. 

Meredith tries to figure this out and enlists the help of a local woman named Deirdre Sullivan. The book then shifts into the past lives of Irish sisters Aisling Flynn and Shayla who accept work and tie themselves to a promise that ruins them. 

The themes of this book include the danger of making promises, generational trauma, guilt, shame, and redemption for women. It inspires the belief that confronting the past is the only way to make sense of the present and free the living. 

Clare writes in a way that is soft but bold, emotional yet fearless. Her female characters are believable women written with astute dialogue that breathe life into them and make her book impossible to put down. The themes in her book stay with the reader long after reading it, haunting them the reminder that the consequences of their actions can affect generations to come.