A French Country Escape

Prologue

PROLOGUE

The Chateau du Cheval, its foundations dug firmly into the Brittany countryside during the dying days of Emperor Napoleon III, fits perfectly into the landscape and dominates the valley it overlooks. The picturesque and regal drive sweeps through the grounds to the curved flight of stone steps at the front entrance, the sunshine glistening off the many original windows. Holidaymakers, catching a brief glimpse of the chateau as they drive along the route down towards the Gulf of Morbihan, dream of winning the lottery and living their best life in such a home, deep in the French countryside.

Winds of change have swept through the chateau on more than one occasion but, always, it has done its best to protect those who live there, whether they were aristocrats living in the building itself, or one of the many butlers, maids, servants and stable hands residing in the attics, or in cottages scattered across the estate in years gone by. Two world wars took both the able-bodied men and women, as well as horses, from the chateau and its neighbouring villages. The small chapel in the grounds bears testament to the true cost of these wars. The shrinkage of the surrounding land is another testament to how things have changed.

Visitors through the years, stepping onto the marble floor of the entrance hall, often commented on how welcoming the chateau felt. Everyone murmured how they wished the walls could talk; the stories they would tell would surely be unforgettable. There would be tales of owners, servants, scandals, good times, bad times, and even famous horses.

Now it’s the third decade of the twenty-first century, and the chateau senses that things are changing once again as the warm, gentle, southerly breeze nudges things awake in spring. The building has been restored and is coming back to life. Long-forgotten actions will be brought to the fore in the modern world with unexpected consequences. An uncovered secret will give a modern generation the opportunity to mend the actions of a previous generation and heal the hurt of the past. A story that began in the nineteenth century far away from the Chateau du Cheval will have its happy ending here in this, the twenty-first century.