Summer 2007. Lyra Reynolds came to Willows Rise looking for her mother's story. Now she's standing in the dark of the admin building, and the one woman who knows exactly who she is has just opened her mouth to answer.
Whatever comes next, it won't be simple. The storm may be over, but nothing at camp is settled. Records have gone missing. Something small and very old has been found in the woods. Someone in the office is being far too helpful. And every adult Lyra trusts seems to be keeping one more thing back, just for now, just until they're sure. Lyra has spent one summer learning to listen. She's learned that a camp cook can say "I love you" with a plate of food and a silence. She's learned that loud people are often hiding something quiet. She's learned that her own family has been lying for decades, usually out of love, and usually badly. What she hasn't learned is how to stop being afraid of what she'll find.
With Kayleigh at her side, Emily on the phone, and a bunkhouse of campers who see far more than anyone gives them credit for, Lyra follows the trail through old photographs, sealed letters, quiet kitchens and half-finished sentences. Every answer opens a door. Every door has a name behind it. And some of those names belong to people who were never supposed to be found.
Echoes of Willows Rise is the second half of the Willows Rise mystery: a story about grief, secrets, found family, and the strange stubborn ways people go on after they lose someone. It's also about pillow fights, bad muffins, a loved boot, and the kind of humour that shows up exactly when you need it most.
Book Three of The Lightkeepers series. Best read after Secrets of Willows Rise.
Content note: this book deals with the loss of children, a drowning, and the quiet damage that secrets do. None of it is graphic.
Hope you like mysteries. Book Four is going to be weirder.
