Lammana

This is a story of love and redemption set against the backdrop of a Cornish fishing town where, on a cold spring day, a middle-aged man is in search of past memories and childhood holidays.

Robert has recently left a failing relationship, and a chance encounter with an old cottage for sale high up on the cliffs resurrects the memory of a previous love: one which had torn him apart twenty years ago. It’s fate, so he believes, because it is similar to the cottage in Ireland where he and his lost love had planned to live out their lives before she was tragically killed in an accident which Robert blames himself for.

He buys the cottage and sets about renovating it which sets off a series of incidents and strange happenings that slowly draw him into a web of intrigue and lies. He discovers the cottage was the birthplace of a notorious pirate who, centuries ago, placed a curse upon the people of Looe in an act of treachery that still resonates for one family. He also meets the enigmatic Tara who operates a lucrative smuggling ring from nearby Looe Island to his cottage. Robert not only poses a threat to her enterprise but, to Tara, he is the manifestation of the pirate curse which she has to pacify. She begins to beguile Robert with her sexuality and lure him into her affections but soon finds herself falling in love with him, and with it, finds her loyalties conflicted.

During a surprise visit from his ex-partner, Caroline, Robert uncovers a hidden secret crypt in the cottage and a tunnel which Caroline, a historian, believes is an escape route for monks who once lived and worshiped on Looe Island. She is excited about the find and returns to London to research the discovery, whilst Robert carries out his own investigations. But as events become ever more mysterious, he soon finds himself plunged into a deadly situation at the hands of a stranger: an adventurer and mercenary who is working for a rival family who themselves are on the trail of lost pirate treasure and will not stop at anything to find it.

When Caroline returns, she and Robert set about uncovering the truth but are soon pitting themselves against an enemy and a curse that will not relinquish its grip. They realise it is the Island that holds the key and, with the unexpected help of Tara, it becomes the battle ground for the forces of good and evil where, in a tumultuous finale, the three adversaries finally confront their destinies as they face the stranger in mortal combat. And in a final twist that leads to the sea and mountains of County Kerry, the secret of the pirate treasure is finally revealed.