Middle Watch
Middle Watch is a time when a man alone on a lighthouse in those wee small hours feels he’s the only person in the world. A man awake and alone in the darkness of the night has time to think, and sometimes those thoughts turn towards revenge and hate. Bridie O’Neill was taken in as a baby by Dad Joe, whom she adores as if he were her real father. Unfortunately, Joe is away at sea most of the time and Bridie has grown up under the thumb of his mean-spirited wife, Millie, and her two bullying sons. The only joy in her life comes from the beautiful coastline near their home and Joe’s occasional visits. When things come to a head between Bridie and Millie, Joe realises he needs to take Bridie—and himself—away from his poisonous wife. He starts a job as a lighthouse keeper at Longships Light. Bridie’s life is transformed by this new life close to the wild Cornish seas. There she meets the dark, brooding Ryan, son of the Principal Keeper. The two young people fall deeply in love with one another. But Joe’s family are not ready to let Bridie go. She is haunted by the idea that Millie will come after her, and Joe’s older son Jim is starting to look at Bridie with a most unbrotherly interest. Wanting to escape the emotional turmoil and prove herself, Bridie sets out on her own to find work in London—but her actions set forth a chain of events that will end in tragedy on a lonely lighthouse amongst the crashing waves of the sea…
(120,000 words; available as ebook and print)
“I am always drawn to Loretta Proctor’s books by the strength of her characters and the emotions they provoke. Their presence lingers, long after the final page has been devoured. ” —Anna Rossi
“Love in this book is like a beam from a lighthouse shining through the darkness surrounding young Bridie, a sign of hope to a child suffering from the cruelty of Mean Millie. Having experienced the domineering behaviour of tyrannical adults in the course of my own childhoood I found this to be an engrossing read. This is a truthfully told and therefore complex love story.” —Mary Hancock
“This is not the first book by Loretta Proctor I have read so I began it with pleasureable anticipation and was not disappointed in fact I found this one the best yet—and that’s saying something. This is a book a sincerely recommend to all lovers romantic sagas.” —Rosemary Peel
