About the book

Marie-Ange Hawkins lives a charmed childhood at a French château until a car accident kills her family. Orphaned at age nine, she is sent to a dismal farm in Iowa to live with her embittered great-aunt. She spends her youth in grueling labor, dreaming of returning to her ancestral home. As an adult, she travels back to France and meets the current owner of the château, the Comte de Beauchamp. They marry quickly, but Marie-Ange soon discovers that her husband harbors dark financial secrets and violent tendencies that threaten her life and her inheritance.

Readers of historical romance and domestic thrillers choose this book to see a protagonist navigate the transition from grief-stricken poverty back to aristocratic society. The story appeals to those interested in the contrast between rural American grit and the intricacies of French nobility. The reader finishes the book with a perspective on how predatory relationships can hide behind status and wealth, and how personal resilience allows a person to reclaim their heritage after extreme displacement and betrayal.

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