Introduction

“There are no secrets that time does not reveal.” 

Savannah, Georgia – 1858

Celia Browning dreams of the day when her childhood sweetheart Sutton Mackay comes home to Savannah after two years in Jamaica managing his family's shipping interests. Sutton has all but proposed, and their marriage will unite two of the city's most prominent families. But just as Sutton returns, a newspaper reporter arrives in town, determined to pry into twin tragedies that took place at the Browning mansion on Madison Square when Celia was a child.

While the journalist pursues his story, someone is trying to frighten Celia. When she receives a series of anonymous notes, and a bracelet imbued with a chilling message, Celia realizes that her family’s past has the power to destroy her future.

As the clouds of war gather over Savannah, and her beloved father’s health worsens, Celia determines to uncover the truth about what really happened all those years ago.

Inspired by actual events in one of Savannah’s most prominent 19th-century families, The Bracelet is the story of a young southern woman whose dreams fracture under the weight of her family’s tragic past.

"Historical romance with a sprinkle of secrets for readers to solve, Dorothy Love's latest puts a new spin on an old idea." ?Romantic Times, 4-star review

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Excerpt

“There are no secrets that time does not reveal.”
Jean-Baptiste Racine
Prologue
September 27, 1843
Inside the carriage house the air was damp and still, thick with the smell of leather and horses. She shook the rain from her hair and eased the door closed. In the dim light coming through the high windows she could discern the shapes of two carriages, one an open surrey with three rows of seats, the other closed and more commodious—and beaded with rain. Beneath the window: two metal buckets, a buggy whip, a squat wooden table with peeling paint and coated with dust. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Though Celia enjoys her station in life, she also chafes against the expectations of her family and her circle of friends. Ivy, too, is affected by societal norms. What roles do expectations play for each of the characters in this novel? Have you ever felt constrained or inspired by your family’s wishes or the norms of your community?

2. The relationship between Ivy and Celia is a complicated one. Which one do you think understands the other more completely? Why?

3. Celia’s home on Madison Square represents very different things to Celia and Ivy. What do you think the house means to each of them?

4. Ivy believes that the Brownings have provided her with opportunity, but not love. Do you agree? Why or why not?

5. Celia decides to pursue the truth about her family’s past, even if her discovery proves uncomfortable. How is Celia changed by what she finds out? Have you ever discovered something in your own past that altered your perception of people and events?

6. What is Leo Channing’s role in the story? Do you think his personal circumstances justified his actions? Why or why not?

7. Were Mr. Browning and Mrs. Maguire justified in keeping the family secrets once Celia was an adult? In similar circumsances, would you want to know the details?

8. At her father’s funeral, Celia wonders how her father dealt with the secrets he kept. Was there a price he paid for his silence? What do you think?

9. In her diary, Aunt Eugenia states that she has become a secret abolitionist. What were her reasons for this statement? Does the depiction of the antebellum South in this book differ from your assumptions?

10. In what way is the city of Savannah itself a character in the novel?

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