It has been three months since the passing of Susan’s lover who disappeared at sea. Susan retreats to Rhode Island’s Freedman’s Cove and to the mysterious house she inherited from her aunt. She awakens, one night, to see an ethereal figure standing at her window ...

Sally Smith O’Rourke, author of “The Man Who Loved Jane Austen,” will hold a book signing at 11 a.m. on Oct. 23 in the City of Hope gift shop to unveil her new book, “The Maidenstone Lighthouse.”

An operating room technician at City of Hope, O’Rourke collaborated on the book with her late husband, Michael O’Rourke, who died in 2001. He was a freelance medical writer who often wrote for City of Hope.

Like O’Rourke’s first book, “The Man Who Loved Jane Austen” (Kensington Books, $14), “The Maidenstone Lighthouse” (Kensington Books, $14) was written some time ago and sold for publication after O’Rourke’s husband passed away.

“Michael did the bulk of the writing while he was alive,” said O’Rourke. “I’ve done the revisions and have completed one novel on my own.”

In “The Maidenstone Lighthouse,” love was lost and hope is found — a simple case of life imitating art for O’Rourke.

“Michael passed away a few years ago, but he had always said that the first story and the book itself were our ultimate valentine,” said O’Rourke. “For me, all of the books are my valentine to him.”

O’Rourke is inspired to write with the thought of keeping her late husband’s work alive so others can enjoy it. She is currently working on another book.