The Lost Journal Legacy
The Lost Journal Legacy is a sweeping, multi-generational saga that begins with a single, secret-filled journal. The series follows one woman, Kate, as she uncovers the shocking truth of her grandmother's past and finds that the most dangerous legacies are the ones written in ink and paid for in blood.
This is a continuous story, and each book builds upon the last as Kate is drawn deeper into a seventy-year-old mystery that will change the course of her own future.
The Priest's Confession
His vow was to God. Her heart was his only confession.
Small-town Minnesota, 1953. Eleanor Vance is a war widow living in a prison of grief, while Father Michael Connelly is the handsome new priest, a man haunted by a dark past and bound to a secret society. When their worlds collide, the connection is immediate, electric, and utterly, damnably forbidden.
Seventy years later, a lost journal is discovered in a dusty attic trunk, its first line a confession that will change everything: I never meant to fall in love with the priest.
Now, one woman must unravel the story of this impossible love and the dangerous secrets it has protected for decades—a truth that could either set her free or destroy the life she thought she knew.
Forbidden Priest Romance, 1950s Historical, Secret Society Romance, Dual Timeline Mystery, For Fans of Kate Morton and Sierra Simone.
Immerse Yourself
The Priest’s Confession
Soundtrack to 1953
The Priest's Confession - The Gilded Cage
The sound of Havenwood, 1953. For Eleanor Vance, life has become a gilded cage of quiet grief and stifling propriety. This collection of melancholic ballads and sorrowful torch songs is the soundtrack to a carefully curated life, a world of lonely nights and a desperate desire to feel alive again.
The Priest's Confession - Sanctuary & Sin
He was a man of God. She was a grieving widow. Their connection was a single, stubborn wildflower growing in the ruins of their lives. The sound of an impossible love, blending passionate blues with the yearning hymns of a faith in crisis.
The Priest's Confession - The Serpent's Kiss
In Havenwood, the devil doesn’t need horns; he wears a fine suit and a friendly smile. The sound of a conspiracy tightening its grip, told through tense noir jazz and dark, brooding blues. Music for a town of hidden oaths and secrets men are willing to kill for.
The Priest's Confession - The Open Road
The choice is made and the past is a ghost in the rearview mirror. This is the soundtrack to their escape. A collection of songs about freedom, hope, and an enduring love that defied heaven itself to find its own peace under a wide-open sky.
From Eleanor's Bookshelf
Eleanor Vance was a woman shaped not only by her experiences but by the stories she consumed. In an era where a woman's choices were limited, reading was a private act of exploration and sometimes, quiet rebellion. This collection represents the books that would have populated Eleanor’s world in 1953—from the respectable bestsellers on her living room shelf to the forbidden, secret texts that mirrored her own awakening and descent into a world of conspiracy and passion.
The Awakening — Reading as Quiet Rebellion
As a respectable young widow in a small, judgmental town, Eleanor’s bookshelf would have held the popular, sweeping historical epics of the day. These were grand tales of romance and faith, acceptable for a woman in her position. Yet, even within these respectable confines, one can find heroines who defy convention and love stories that challenge the social order—seeds of the rebellion that Father Michael’s arrival would bring to bloom in her own heart.
Désirée by Annemarie Selinko (1951)
A massive bestseller in 1953, this historical novel tells the story of Désirée Clary, a merchant's daughter who was once engaged to Napoleon Bonaparte. Eleanor would be drawn to this epic tale of a "respectable" woman whose life is irrevocably altered by a relationship with a powerful, world-changing man. Désirée’s journey from a simple girl to the Queen of Sweden is a story of resilience and navigating a life you never expected—themes that would resonate deeply with Eleanor's own sense of a life derailed.
The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas (1942)
This novel was a cultural phenomenon that remained popular well into the 1950s. It tells the story of Marcellus, the Roman soldier who wins Christ's robe in a dice game after the crucifixion. For Eleanor, a woman steeped in the church but wrestling with a silent crisis of faith, this book would be a profound exploration of belief born from doubt. It’s a story about finding faith not through doctrine, but through a tangible, personal connection to a sacred mystery—mirroring the way Michael’s unorthodox sermons begin to reshape her own spiritual world.
The Conspiracy — Reading as Investigation
As Eleanor is pulled deeper into Michael’s world of secret societies and financial plots, her reading tastes would gravitate toward stories of intrigue and danger. These books, new and slightly scandalous for the time, would not only be an escape but a form of education—a way to understand the ruthless men who threaten her and the hidden levers of power they command.
Casino Royale by Ian Fleming (1953)
Published in the spring of 1953, the very first James Bond novel would have been a thrilling, modern, and slightly dangerous read. While Michael fights a spiritual and economic war against a conspiracy of corrupt Masons, Bond fights a tangible, Cold War battle against the Soviet agent Le Chiffre. For Eleanor, Bond’s world of spies, high-stakes gambles, and morally ambiguous loyalties would be a shocking but clarifying parallel to her own unfolding drama. It’s a story that affirms a dark truth she is just beginning to learn: that powerful, ruthless men operate by a different set of rules.
From Here to Eternity by James Jones (1951)
This raw, unvarnished look at military life in the days leading up to Pearl Harbor was a massive bestseller and a stark contrast to the heroic war narratives often consumed publicly. Its frank portrayal of forbidden affairs and its critique of institutional corruption would resonate with both Eleanor and Michael. For Michael, a veteran haunted by the trauma the war inflicted on men like his friend Daniel and Eleanor's husband Robert, this book would be a painful acknowledgment of the military’s dark underbelly.
The Communion — Reading as Shared Heresy
The truest connection between Eleanor and Michael is a meeting of minds, a recognition that they are two lonely souls questioning the rigid doctrines that define their world. The books that matter most are the ones that represent a shared search for a different kind of truth—a truth found not in the institution, but in the self.
The Gospel of Thomas (discovered 1945)
This is the central, secret text of the novel. A collection of the sayings of Jesus discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, these "gnostic" gospels were not widely available in 1953. Michael’s encounter with them during his time in Egypt after the war is the source of his "heretical" belief that the kingdom of God is an internal state, not an external institution. When he shares this text with Eleanor, he is not just sharing a book; he is sharing the key to his own fractured soul, an act of ultimate trust and shared heresy that solidifies their bond.
The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley (1953)
Published in 1953, this searing novel of a secret, class-crossing love affair would strike a powerful chord with Eleanor. Told from the perspective of a young boy who acts as the messenger between a wealthy young woman and a tenant farmer, the story is about the devastating consequences of a forbidden love. Reading this, Eleanor would see her own dangerous situation reflected in its pages—the secret meetings, the risk of discovery, and the destructive power of a society that cannot tolerate a love that breaks its rules.
A Glimpse into Havenwood and beyond
Beatrice Sutton
Croft and Finch
Martha Gable
Havenwood
Northwood Lodge
St. Jude's