No Light but the Stars

Two women in Cornwall are separated by centuries and united by secrets in this haunting historical novel about hope and a love so powerful it transcends time, persecution, and war. In 1941, Violet Rookwood and her mother flee war-torn London for a Cornwall farm owned by their family. There, under the floorboards of her bedroom, Violet finds a journal written by a Catholic woman more than three hundred years ago, confessing to a forbidden love. In 1606, on this very farm, Maria Wolveden sheltered Jago Carlyon, a fugitive priest sought for treason. In a time when all Catholics were suspect, Maria’s protective love for Jago grew stronger, as did the mortal dangers of harboring a wanted man. Violet knows all about secret passion, having lost her own forbidden love, Taslim, in the London Blitz. Haunted by visions of Taslim and of Maria, Violet soon finds herself at a crossroads that eerily parallels that of Maria’s when she gives refuge to Francesco Marelli, an Italian POW whose life is threatened for collaborating with the enemy. With her family’s lives at stake, Violet not only comes to understand Maria’s desperation more deeply but feels uncannily connected to her spirit—as if guided on a journey that Maria travelled centuries ago. It’s also giving Violet the hope she needs to see her own secrets through to their courageous end—and, perhaps, to find new love. © 2026 by Lindsay Jayne Ashford, all rights reserved.