The Cinders Remaining: A novel

Yorkshire, 1981. When Eleanor Chapman applies for a teaching post at the Berrydean School of Languages, she has no idea that her arrival will reopen wounds her enigmatic employer has spent years trying to bury. Olivier Rossignol, a reserved Frenchman with a tragic past, knows he should never hire her. He does it anyway. Months earlier, Eleanor had set off across Europe in a converted ambulance with her charismatic lover Gerry, chasing dreams of a new life in Nairobi. But after a terrifying assault in Turkey and a bitter betrayal in Africa, she returns home heartbroken, clinging to promises that never materialise. Teaching English in Berrydean offers escape – and unknowingly binds her fate to Olivier’s. Olivier, too, has fled devastation. In 1960s London – an event that shattered friendships and drove him into exile in North Yorkshire, where he built Berrydean from the ashes of grief. Now, decades later, past and present collide when former friends reappear and old secrets begin to surface. As truths emerge and loyalties are tested, Eleanor and Olivier must decide whether love can survive the weight of history – or whether some wounds can never truly heal. A sweeping story of resilience, redemption and the fragile courage it takes to begin again, The Cinders Remaining explores how, even after devastation, hope can still glow beneath the ashes