“A haunting exploration of how secrets shape generations and the courage required to break free from their hold.”Based on true events of the author’s family, this electrifying saga takes the reader to the eighteen hundreds, a time of radical social upheavals. In 1827, Europe had been devastated by the Napoleonic wars, the end of slavery, and the first stirrings of women’s rights. The author’s great-grandparents, Elizabeth and Grosvenor Bunster, fled England for the promise of a better life in Chile, a decision as old as mankind that affects the world even today. The author emphasizes how immigrant families such as her own have contributed enduring value to their adopted country through their hard work as well as intellectual input and social leadership.
On another level, the author created a fictional drama that asks the question: What if lies to protect ultimately destroy? Secrets cast a web of tragedies. Star-crossed lovers suffer. Innocence is killed. In the novel, Elizabeth Blackstone navigates family secrets that would echo through generations. The struggle to accept difficult truths is a challenge that will require the healing power of forgiveness.
This sweeping historical novel rips open the curtain separating “necessary” secrets from brutal truths as Elizabeth’s story reveals how the sweetest deceptions can cast the longest shadows.
