Rosamunde Pilcher: Stürmische Begegnung (1993)

Rebecca Bayliss, who has just moved, visits a London antique shop in search of chairs and meets its charming owner, Joss Gardner. Back at her workplace, a bookshop, she finds a letter from Otto Peddersen that is already three weeks old. It informs her that her mother, Lisa, is seriously ill. At the airport in Ibiza, Peddersen tells her that her mother has had leukemia for a year but did not want Rebecca to know. When Rebecca brings up the death of her grandmother, whom she never met, her mother says bitterly that Rebecca missed nothing: the atmosphere in the house could have suffocated anyone. Though the estate, “Boscarva,” in Cornwall had been beautiful, her mother had hated it. Her father, Grenville, had increasingly withdrawn to his studio to paint, and at some point all her mother had wanted was to leave it all behind. Shortly before she dies, her mother makes Rebecca promise to go to Cornwall. So Rebecca sets off for Porthkerris, though the journey is not without difficulties. To her great surprise, she runs into Joss Gardner on the way. He tells her that he is in the area because he is restoring furniture at “Boscarva.” At a pub, she meets Eliot Bayliss, her cousin, without knowing who he is. Gardner explains this to her. On her way to “Boscarva,” she meets Eliot, who gives her a lift in his car. Rebecca is warmly welcomed at the estate. Along with Eliot’s mother, Mollie, she meets a distant relative, the young Andrea, who seems bored. Her meeting with her grandfather, Grenville, proves revealing. He hints that Mollie and especially Eliot are hoping to inherit soon. After Rebecca accepts Joss’s invitation for coffee at his flat, they kiss. Shortly afterward, Rebecca discovers the escritoire that belonged to her mother in an unfinished room in Joss’s flat. It has already been noticed missing at the estate. Rebecca does not know what to believe and is completely confused. She tells her grandfather that she wants to go back to her flat in London for the time being. Her grandfather gives her the key to his studio so she can choose a painting and take it with her. At last, she comes across a portrait of the mysterious Sophia, whom her grandfather painted again and again. Until then, however, only paintings showing her with her face turned away had surfaced. When Morris Petcomp brings Andrea back to the manor that evening in a pitiful state, she says that Joss, whom she had arranged to meet, had become forward and hit her when she tried to get away from him. With Eliot’s tacit approval, Petcomp then attacks Joss with an iron bar outside a pub, seriously injuring him. When Rebecca hears about it, she rushes straight to Joss. On this occasion, he also tells her what really happened with Andrea’s accusation and the escritoire. He says Rebecca had been upset that he did not want to go out to dinner with her, and so he had sent her away from his flat. He had bought the escritoire from a dealer, who had bought it from Eliot, who was up to his neck in debt. When everyone is gathered at the estate, it also becomes clear why there is only one painting showing Sophia’s face: she was Joss’s mother, and the portrait reveals the strong resemblance between mother and son. Grenville had always known that Joss was his grandson, which was why he had always looked out for him. He tells his family that Sophia was the only woman he had ever truly loved, a very proud, extraordinary woman who did not want him to divorce his wife for her sake. Eliot reacts bitterly, turns away, and says they have seen the last of him. Mollie runs after her son. Joss tells Rebecca to go with him to London, where they will pack her things, and says they will be back at “Boscarva” the day after tomorrow. Then he tells her to finally say “it.” They confess their love to each other.