Firefly Beach by Meira Pentermann

"Beth was beset by disturbing dreams; rapid firing images flashed before her eyes – a car screeching down a country road, a yellow duck, her father’s face. She awoke with a start. Why am I dreaming about my father after all of these years?”

Title: Firefly Beach
Author: Meira Pentermann
ISBN: 978-0982417089

Publisher: Lyrical Press/2009
Pages: 316

Beth moves into a small town in the coast of Maine. She rents out a house and sets up a deal with the local antique store to sell her paintings. She is preparing for a new start to her life. She needs to escape the demons in her life. And then she meets a "firefly’ who is seemingly is awaiting her arrival.  The Firefly leads her to a diary of a girl Katherine, who was the daughter of her landlord and had disappeared 36 years ago. No one knows what happened to Katherine.

Beth sets about to find the mystery behind Katherine's disappearance.  With a unique plot, a bit of supernatural element and good writing, one gets engrossed in the story. 

Mary and Abigail, are another two characters which are typical ladies from a small community running the only inn in the town. Then there is this jeweller Kenny, who is an enigma. The novel is not as simple as it seems. It has a complicated plot, weird and interesting characters and a firefly which is the thick of things.