Summer Wives 2 (Pages 82 - 163)

 SPOILERS!!!

The novel seesaws between different time frames: 1969, 1951 and 1930, adn little by little we are discovering facts. In 1969 we learn that Miranda is a famous actress, married to a famed film director. The reason why she returned to the island is because she had an accident. This is what she tells the brother her mother had with Hugh Fisher, a brother she has never met before. What she doesn't tell him is that her husband is the reason why she had the accident. Miranda was pregnant, and at a party of a fellow actor, Carroll, the husband, reacted angrily when she was talking to their host, Victor, and Goring claimed that Victor was the father of her baby, and he dragged her to the car, driving recklessly and crashing. As a consequence, Miranda lost the baby. We understand that the man she married is horrible.

From the parts in 1969 we also discover that something terrible happened in 1951, and that is why people refuse contact with her. Hugh Fisher was murdered, and suspicion fell on Joseph, and even though Miranda testified she didn't see him kill Hugh, Joseph confessed. And now Joseph has broken out of jail. 

And in 1930 the chapters told from Bianca Medeiro's point of view, she tells us about how that summer she and Hugh Fletcher became friends on the sly. When old Mr Fletcher died of a heart attack, Bianca went to find Hugh, who was drunk and told horrible things about his father. Then when she tried to comfort him, he kissed her even though in previous days he claimed that they could be just friends. After that, he took her to a shed near the swimming pool, and before Bianca knew what was happening, Hugh removed her clothes and took her virtue. 

I have the hunch that maybe Joseph is actually Bianca's son. In the parts of 1951 Miranda is told that Bianca Medeiro died around the time Isobel was a baby. Someone tells her that she committed suicide, but someone else tells her that she died in a boat accident. I suspect that from the relationship with Hugh Fisher Bianca got pregnant, and Fisher abandoned her, and the Medeiros concealed the pregnancy by having Francisca Vargas adopting the child. 

I think that I am enjoying the book more and more. When I started reading it, I thought it was going to be boring, but my interest has grown notably as the book progresses.