Amy, a journalist, wants to write an article about Farthington House, a place she remembers from her childhood. While visiting the house with the new heir, Kyle, she discovers a small painting of a woman who looks just like her. From then on, Amy and Kyle dig into the past to find the truth. This book is one of the 2026 Quick Reads — short stories written to encourage reading among those who don’t usually read much. The story is intriguing, even if it is not difficult to understand the plot, and it is a little sappy at the end, but it is perfect for a very warm Sunday.
“We’d been through all the necklaces now. I leaned over the shoebox then reached in and picked out a small jeweller’s box from amongst the jumble of items at the bottom. It fitted snugly in my hands as I pulled it open. Inside, lying on a velvet pad, Gran’s wedding ring gleamed, the gold worn thin by years of wear. A little packet of folded tissue had been tucked next to it. I laid the box with the ring to one side, then quickly unwrapped the packet to reveal a scrap of cardboard with a silver chain wound round it. Unwinding the short chain, I realized what hung on it.
It was a little silver pendant of a bird in flight, the silver enamelled with cornflower blue.”