The Way Back

Heidi Chiavaroli

Jun 2024 · Hope Creek Publishers

About this ebook

Young love means everything . . . until it leaves you with nothing.

The summer before her senior year of high school, Laney Jacobs and her best friend jump from a six-story beachside cliff in an attempt to impress their boyfriends. Laney rose from the water. Her friend did not.

Six years later, when Laney’s troubled mother’s memoir hits the bestseller list airing the family’s destructive secrets, Laney is forced to relive the trauma, this time in the public eye. To escape the scrutiny, she seeks shelter at her estranged grandmother’s seaside inn. But she can’t reconcile the loving woman with the heartless parent in her mother’s book. As she looks for answers, the ex-boyfriend who’d witnessed her darkest days reappears, stirring up both pain and hope.   

When her mother's vindictive fans threaten her grandmother's livelihood and the lighthouse Laney has come to love, she turns to the century-old words of a young lighthouse keeper to help her find the courage to move forward. But once truths from the past come to light and old love finds new beginnings, will Laney discover that forgiveness is the only way toward true healing?

Ratings and reviews

Set in Maine, The Way Back is a dual-timeline story (my favorite kind!) about two women who find themselves tucked away at The Beacon Lighthouse, nearly one hundred years apart. As Laney struggles to heal from a traumatic event, she finds herself amidst the unraveling of the truth behind her mother’s and grandmother’s painful past. In her quest for truth, she comes across a journal kept by a brave female lightkeeper which helps Laney put life— and love— into perspective.

Chiavaroli has again created a relatable narrative with relatable characters who challenged me to consider some of the coping methods I cling to in the face of tragedy and difficult relationships. As always, Chavaroli seamlessly blends a story of a life well lived to the story of people living in the present who can benefit from the lessons learned in the past. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next book in this series!!

This story grabs your attention from the first page and thoughtfully weaves your heart with the characters. Full of honesty and redemption, the dual-time story showcases the power of hope and forgiveness. The characters and their stories are relatable, and I’m looking forward to more books in the Lights of Acadia series!

About the author

Heidi Chiavaroli is a hope-inspired storyteller writing from the deep curiosity of her own heart. Her debut novel, Freedom's Ring, was a Carol Award winner and a Christy Award finalist, a Romantic Times Top Pick, and a Booklist Top Ten Romance Debut. Her second Carol Award-winning novel, The Orchard House, is inspired by the lesser-known events in Louisa May Alcott's life and led her to write The Orchard House Bed and Breakfast series, a contemporary twist on Little Women. Heidi makes her home in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons. Visit her online at heidichiavaroli.com