For forty years of her life, Beatrice Shay devoted herself to growing roses, even though these flowers had never suited her tastes. Nearly seventy years she spent on the island of Guernsey, even though she dreamed of Cambridge or France. Hopes died; people left; war ground its millstones. The world rang with bells, weddings were held, children were born and left home. Only the roses kept blooming. Through Beatrice Shay, the island’s residents could check the time.
And once again autumn came. And the wind—knocked the rose petals down. And spread a carpet along the paths and roads… a crimson, blood-red carpet. But Beatrice Shay did not raise fiery roses...
The modern German writer Charlotte Link is aptly called the “queen of crime” and a “master of the psychological thriller.” Her novels are exemplary works of the genre.