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Secrets between an Ocean and a Sea
Two islands, two families, and one painting that each family claims to own.
Renata’s story
Renata Jones is the owner of the Bond Art Gallery in Kingston, Jamaica. The gallery is very successful, but Renata’s personal life is a mess. Her father disappeared the year Renata was born, and now, fifty-four years later, his murdered remains have been found. The discovery has left Renata struggling to re-evaluate her life.
Isabel’s story
Artist Isabel Davis-Jensen is travelling to Jamaica for her niece’s wedding. Like Renata, her life is in pieces. She has been struggling since the death of her beloved husband to find purpose in her life. She is hoping to create a niche for herself in the art world. This trip to Jamaica will be a welcome distraction from the stresses of the last few years. Isabel’s uncle once lived in Jamaica, and his stories about the island filled her childhood. She can’t wait to explore the island after the wedding.
Isabel and Renata
When Isabel visits the Bond Art Gallery, she sees a painting that mystifies her. She is certain it is the same painting that once hung in her uncle’s home in Newfoundland. When she inquires about the painting, Renata and Isabel’s worlds collide and secrets unfold.
Renata’s story
Renata Jones is the owner of the Bond Art Gallery in Kingston, Jamaica. The gallery is very successful, but Renata’s personal life is a mess. Her father disappeared the year Renata was born, and now, fifty-four years later, his murdered remains have been found. The discovery has left Renata struggling to re-evaluate her life.
Isabel’s story
Artist Isabel Davis-Jensen is travelling to Jamaica for her niece’s wedding. Like Renata, her life is in pieces. She has been struggling since the death of her beloved husband to find purpose in her life. She is hoping to create a niche for herself in the art world. This trip to Jamaica will be a welcome distraction from the stresses of the last few years. Isabel’s uncle once lived in Jamaica, and his stories about the island filled her childhood. She can’t wait to explore the island after the wedding.
Isabel and Renata
When Isabel visits the Bond Art Gallery, she sees a painting that mystifies her. She is certain it is the same painting that once hung in her uncle’s home in Newfoundland. When she inquires about the painting, Renata and Isabel’s worlds collide and secrets unfold.
276 pages, Paperback
Published September 6, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 6, 2025
Carolyn my duck, thanks for including me in the Dedication of Secrets Between an Ocean and a Sea [Flanker Press]. I was born and partly reared on Random Island, so I’m doubly blessed — an erstwhile bay-boy from two islands.
Also, I’ve been a traveller, albeit mostly under duress. And believe it or not, I’ve travelled to a destination wedding in Jamaica. Imagine that. Like Isabel in this story, I attended a niece’s wedding in the land of rum and molasses.
So, thanks again for including me, an island person and a traveller.
Speaking of rum and molasses, a seafaring uncle of my Missus — my Dearest Duck — sailed this book’s titular ocean and sea. As a crewman with Blue Peter Steamships, he helped freight saltfish from Newfoundland to Jamaica and fetch rum and molasses back to the Rock.
Oh, and for years, a humongous Jamaican conch hung from the neck of our shower nozzle.
There you go.
While reading Secrets, I was all aboard with Isabel, flying to a wedding in Jamaica, dodging around that island, tasting ackee, rice and saltfish, and humming Harry Belafonte tunes praising the sun shining daily on the mountaintop.
However, I returned from Jamaica with a peeling sunburn and blistered feet but without any of the intrigue Isabel experienced — without any questions about a mysterious painting, for instance.
Synopsis of sorts: Isabel attends her niece’s wedding in Jamaica. There, she meets Renata and this one and that one. She visits an art gallery and sees a painting that is somehow familiar. Then, she returns to Newfoundland with an image of said painting lingering in her noggin.
The end.
No, not the end.
Isabel returns to Jamaica, does some digging and delving and unearths some skeletons whose bones, mayhap, once rattled in a family closet.
It turns out that Isabel’s uncle Aiden once lived in Jamaica…
B’ys, saying much else will spoil the story.
As well as interesting tidbits related to artists and painting, Secrets is chock-a-block with Island trivia of a sort.
Did you know Noel Coward once lived in Jamaica, and that there’s a statue of him sitting-off looking out the bay from the lawn of his Firefly estate?
That Johnny Cash lived on the island for a spell?
That the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, was filmed there?
And b’ys, I bet a Loonie you still remember Ursula Andress wading ashore, briny seawater dripping from her white bikini.
Ursula, b’ys!
Well, apparently, a local shop sells replicas of Ursula’s memorable swimsuit.
Ursula’s bikini!
Take a breath.
Secrets is the best Newfoundland book I’ve read since Valentine’s Day. It has mystery and romance. It has colourful characters and boatloads of local colour. It uncovers skeletons and untangles Family Tree branches without any help from ancestory.com.
There’s a mysterious painting featured. A tenacious cop called Inch. And those allusions to Ursula, aka Honey Ryder, her hair and bikini dripping, wading ashore like Venus stepping off a half-shell.
B’ys, Honey Ryder!
Thank you for reading.
Also, I’ve been a traveller, albeit mostly under duress. And believe it or not, I’ve travelled to a destination wedding in Jamaica. Imagine that. Like Isabel in this story, I attended a niece’s wedding in the land of rum and molasses.
So, thanks again for including me, an island person and a traveller.
Speaking of rum and molasses, a seafaring uncle of my Missus — my Dearest Duck — sailed this book’s titular ocean and sea. As a crewman with Blue Peter Steamships, he helped freight saltfish from Newfoundland to Jamaica and fetch rum and molasses back to the Rock.
Oh, and for years, a humongous Jamaican conch hung from the neck of our shower nozzle.
There you go.
While reading Secrets, I was all aboard with Isabel, flying to a wedding in Jamaica, dodging around that island, tasting ackee, rice and saltfish, and humming Harry Belafonte tunes praising the sun shining daily on the mountaintop.
However, I returned from Jamaica with a peeling sunburn and blistered feet but without any of the intrigue Isabel experienced — without any questions about a mysterious painting, for instance.
Synopsis of sorts: Isabel attends her niece’s wedding in Jamaica. There, she meets Renata and this one and that one. She visits an art gallery and sees a painting that is somehow familiar. Then, she returns to Newfoundland with an image of said painting lingering in her noggin.
The end.
No, not the end.
Isabel returns to Jamaica, does some digging and delving and unearths some skeletons whose bones, mayhap, once rattled in a family closet.
It turns out that Isabel’s uncle Aiden once lived in Jamaica…
B’ys, saying much else will spoil the story.
As well as interesting tidbits related to artists and painting, Secrets is chock-a-block with Island trivia of a sort.
Did you know Noel Coward once lived in Jamaica, and that there’s a statue of him sitting-off looking out the bay from the lawn of his Firefly estate?
That Johnny Cash lived on the island for a spell?
That the first James Bond movie, Dr. No, was filmed there?
And b’ys, I bet a Loonie you still remember Ursula Andress wading ashore, briny seawater dripping from her white bikini.
Ursula, b’ys!
Well, apparently, a local shop sells replicas of Ursula’s memorable swimsuit.
Ursula’s bikini!
Take a breath.
Secrets is the best Newfoundland book I’ve read since Valentine’s Day. It has mystery and romance. It has colourful characters and boatloads of local colour. It uncovers skeletons and untangles Family Tree branches without any help from ancestory.com.
There’s a mysterious painting featured. A tenacious cop called Inch. And those allusions to Ursula, aka Honey Ryder, her hair and bikini dripping, wading ashore like Venus stepping off a half-shell.
B’ys, Honey Ryder!
Thank you for reading.
August 19, 2025
It captured me and kept me wanting more. Well done!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews