Loss of Innocence

At sixteen, Effie Pappas has one burning ambition: to finish high school with good enough marks to win a university scholarship. When retired schoolteacher, Frank Robson, offers to tutor Effie, she is delighted but his strange behaviour during their lessons fills her with unease. Frank’s daughter Claire is desperately unhappy and Effie begins to wonder what goes on behind closed doors. Witnessing a scene between Frank and Claire sets her heart racing and she realises Claire is in real danger. She must step in before it is too late. On the other side of the island, long-time resident Ada Stewart has worries of her own. Diagnosed with a terminal illness, she reveals a secret she has held close to her heart for over fifty years. With Effie’s help, she unravels the past, but fears she has left it too late. In the summer of her sixteenth year Effie discovers the depth of her own strength and character; whilst Ada, in the final weeks of her life, learns it is never too late to find love.