Summer Chapter 12

In which the village of North Dormer stirs with an eager preparation for its inaugural Old Home Week, led by the enthusiastic architect Lucius Harney, while Charity Royall finds herself reluctantly drawn into the communal bustle yet remains ensconced in a tender, secretive attachment that melancholically isolates her from the world around. As the summer days wane and the festive decorations come to life, Charity slips away to a quiet, hidden retreat where the intertwining of youthful passion and the lingering shadows of her complicated existence unfold in a world both luminous and distant.