A Silent Ocean Away

October 1, 2008
Pretty young Charmaine Ryan grew up poor and miserable in pre-Civil War Richmond, so when she is hired as a companion to a wealthy woman, shes thrilledeven more so when shes recommended as a governess for the young heirs to the Duvoisin sugarcane fortune. Charmaine moves to the Duvoisins main house in the Caribbean and quickly learns that wealth is no guard against misery. Charmaine is a silent witness to the machinations of the Duvoisins. Frederic, the head of the family and paralyzed from a stroke, names his illegitimate son heir to the family fortune; nurses his ailing wife, who is half his age; outmaneuvers his conniving sister-in-law, who is only waiting for her chance to be his wife; and keeps the plantation from failing. When Frederics legitimate son, a rake and a roustabout, returns from Virginia, its all the family can do to hold themselves together. Intrigue thrives and breeds obsession in the first in Devas planned trilogy dramatizing the rise and fall of antebellum royalty.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)