ACTS OF KINDNESS 4/1979 ISBN: 1892738031 What are the boundaries of love, of human emotion? For Eugenie Elliott who loses her lover and her ability to speak above a whisper all in one terrible moment, this question would appear to have no answer. Everything is gone, except for the baby she is going to have in a few months' time. For Adele Prewitt, well-born, desperately unhappy wife of the manipulative and charming Lawrence, the boundaries have been stretched beyond all endurance -- until Eugenie comes into her life, making an offer to buy the gatehouse on the property. Two very different women find in each other sources of hope, of love, of pure elemental kindness. They help one another through the daily battleground of horrors that has become Del's life, until an act of violence forces them, and everyone around them, to reconsider their understanding of the capacities of human nature.
ANOTHER KIND OF MAGIC 1977 Included in HIDDEN MEANINGS
BECOMING 7/1978 ISBN: 1892738244 Sidonie Graham got married and allowed her husband Frank to be the center of her universe -- until the day she suddenly realized she was overweight, unhappy, and desperate to be free. At the urging of her bold, outspoken Aunt Claudia, Sidonie begins reclaiming her life. Unfortunately, the marriage and subsequent divorce have left Sidonie feeling misshapen and ugly, even when she no longer is. So when she meets Michael Quinn, producer of what he prefers to call "erotic films," she's primed to fall into something that can only end badly. And it does. Because Michael Quinn wants to make his dream of producing a "legitimate film" come true and Sidonie is perfect for the leading role. But is Michael Quinn's dream film art or pornography? And does it matter if the end result is the loss of a rather naive, lonely woman's innocence?
CLAUDIA'S SHADOW 5/1996 ISBN: 1551661772 As her sister's sole heir, Rowena Graham moves into Claudia's house - their old family home - and begins to sort out her sister's affairs. She also steps in as manager of Claudia's restaurant and gradually leaves her former life and successful career behind as she relentlessly searches for the truth about her sister's death. There was no note and the suicide verdict feels all wrong. And while her beautiful younger sister had always been difficult and unpredictable - warm and affectionate one day, calculating and cruel the next - Rowena is certain Claudia would never have taken her own life. Rowena's unexpected discovery of a trove of documents and photographs unearths a host of secrets - kept not just by Claudia but by every member of the family. Unraveling a tangle of lies and distortions that hid the dynamics of her family, Rowena uncovers the secret to Claudia's death. And finally sets herself free from the shadows of the past.
DADDY'S GIRL 10/1980 ISBN: 0425051722
DESTINIES 1986 ISBN: 0425053253 Three very different women whose lives come to intersect as a result of their involvement through the years with Jamie (The Marmalade Man of the book's original title). Sherrill is a young actress on her way from Toronto to New York, headed for success and disillusionment. Dene is a toy designer on her way home to Toronto from New York, still trying, years after the fact, to deal with a terrible, secret tragedy. And Anne is an American-born researcher, living in Toronto, trying to deal with the loss of her youth, and of Jamie. In the course of ten years, these people connect at different times and in different places, each leaving an indelible impression on the other. Until a terrifying hotel fire unites them in the most unexpected fashion.
DREAMING IN COLOR 4/1995 ISBN: 155166030X Bobby Salton is a woman on the run. With her six-year-old daughter, she finds refuge in a rambling house on the Connecticut shore. Hired as a live-in companion to Alma Ogilvie, Bobby helps the retired headmistress regain her independence. But Bobby's battered appearance also has a startling effect, especially on Eva Rule, Alma's niece, a successful author. Three very different women grapple with dreams of haunted pasts, and yet form a tenuous bond. Just as they begin to look to the future, the past catches up with them in a violent climax that threatens everything they have come to trust.
DREAM TRAIN 5/1988 ISBN: 0804104182 Enter the elegant and mysterious world of the Orient Express. It's a plum assignment for photojournalist Joanna James: a ride on the Orient-Express with a stop in Venice for five days at the exclusive Cipriani Hotel, all expenses paid. Yet all is not well. Joanna is tired and filled with self-doubt. The trips starts out more as an inconvenience than an exciting adventure, especially when a stop in London renews her friendship with two very different men, two very different lovers who both want a commitment she is not ready to give. But then she boards the lush, luxurious train and enters its romantic world, where strangers become friends, where confidences are shared, where hearts are broken, and where love is lost, and found.
GENTLE STRANGER 1/1991 ISBN: 0727840843 When her photographer daughter, Emma, dies as a result of being beaten and raped, Jacqueline Evannier's peaceful life is thrown into complete turmoil. In her grief, she accepts the consolation and affection offered by Phil Aylmer who happened to be on the scene of Emma's attack. The loss of her only child sends Jacqueline -- a former prima ballerina of international renown -- down an entirely unexpected path. While continuing to need the solace offered by Phil Aylmer, she is becoming an activist: trying to change the way the police deal with rape cases. She is also forced to re-examine every aspect of her life, from her casual, ongoing relationships with several, very different, men; to the less than satisfactory aspects of her experiences with Phil Aylmer and his troubled son.
GRACE NOTES 5/2002 ISBN: 1551666677 Was she helping a woman in danger . . . or walking into a dangerous trap? Early in her marriage Grace Loring became the victim of her husband's sudden, unpredictable rages. Taking her infant daughter and a few belongings, Grace fled to the safety of her brother Gus's home in Vermont. Now, years later, Grace is a successful author. Accustomed to abused women writing to ask for advice, Grace is sympathetic when she is contacted by a troubled young woman named Stephanie Baine. In the course of their e-mail correspondence, Stephanie reveals details of a nightmarish life - her terrifying abduction as a teenager, the psychological and physical abuse at the hands of her husband. Grace's advice is clear: Stephanie must do whatever is necessary to escape this madman. After several weeks of an intensive exchange, the e-mails abruptly stop, and Grace begins to fear the worst for Stephanie. Then the e-mails resume, and what Grace learns casts doubt on everything she believed. Who is Stephanie Baine? Has anything she's told Grace been the truth? Is she really a young woman in danger, or is something else - something sinister, even deadly - going on?
HIDDEN MEANINGS 8/1976 ISBN: 0425077470 Wynne Shipton is the woman who lives in the small house at the corner. Tony Wakeman lives in the large, imposing house across the road. They are people who have merely nodded politely in passing -- until the day Tony accepts a delivery for his neighbor who isn't home to receive it. The simple act of crossing the road to deliver the package evolves into a heated sexual encounter between strangers. Sexual intimacy is easy; getting to know one another is anything but. They each have past sorrows and present secrets that must be overcome before they can become truly intimate. Wynne's past has actual shape in the form of a daughter she's never met and a granddaughter she's only heard about. And in one of life's great ironies, it is this unknown daughter who winds up purchasing Wynne's house when she is finally able to commit herself to Tony Wakeman.
ILLUSIONS 5/1987 ISBN: 0804101906 When Stanleigh Dunn, an award-winning author of children's books notable for her complexly intricate illustrations, meets Daniel Goddard on a flight to London, they are each (although unknown to the other) in the grip of a terrible loss. Their chance encounter develops into an ambivalent but sexually charged relationship that is colored by their grief. While she is both seductive and dismissing, he becomes progressively more obsessed until, finally, what began as the attempt of two wounded people to find solace in each other's company culminates in a shocking episode of kidnapping and sexual abuse whose powerful evocation will hold the reader in a thrall of horror and fascination.
INTIMATE FRIENDS 4/1983 ISBN: 042506591X After her husband's suicide, TV producer Lynne Craig's world is upended. There is no evident reason for this act, and she's left to try to come to terms with her husband's death while continuing to function in the cutthroat world of 1960's television. Wearied by the politics, the infighting, and the unfairness of a network that places a low premium on women, she starts her life again in a tiny cottage in Connecticut and commutes into New York to a job that, daily, means less and less to her. To her bewilderment, she finds herself involved with two men--one older, one much younger. And just when it seems that she and Dianna, the on-air host, might finally get a chance to do a meaningful segment on Up To The Minute, their 60-minute weekly show, Dianna mysteriously disappears.
JULIA'S SISTER 4/1978 ISBN: 1892738163 Annabel Abbott's twin sister Julia has committed suicide. This act turns Annabel's life upside down. She simply cannot comprehend why Julia, who had everything, would call her life a senseless rip-off and put an end to it. While Annabel, the studious one, the boring insurance consultant, has doggedly kept moving forward year after year. The detectives who have responded to her call have no explanations to offer, but one of the pair, Harry Schoenman, is very taken with Annabel and offers unexpected comfort. Their brief affair results in Annabel's pregnancy and also inspires her decision to create a special pregnancy insurance company for women. Working with her feisty assistant Joan and her equally feistier lawyer, Frieda, Annabel begins putting her company together -- along the way encountering nonstop negativism from the men with whom she has to deal. Surprisingly, the person who seems to understand best what it is she's attempting to do, and who takes a personal interest in Annabel is her doctor, Rhys Bowen. As Annabel's due date draws nearer, she is forced to turn everything over to Joan and, resigned, goes home to wait for the arrival of the baby. And, frighteningly, the birth of the child proves as daunting and dangerous -- but, finally, as deeply rewarding -- as everything else in her life.
LEFTOVER DREAMS 3/1992 ISBN: 0385419449 The story starts in the Toronto of the 1950's, where you could still swim at Sunnyside Beach and most women stayed home to raise their families. Here you will meet two unforgettable sisters--Faye and Louise Parker who, against all odds, survive the abuse of their angry and embittered mother, Maggie. But their lives are tragically altered when shy and sensitive Faye is the victim of a brutal and violent act. Suddenly, the normally ebullient Louise is thrown into turmoil. On the brink of adulthood, she escapes to London to heal her wounds and follow her nebulous dreams.
LOVE LIFE 1/1976 ISBN: 042510012X Helen Kimbrough doesn't lead an ordinary life because she isn't an ordinary woman. Her relationship with her mother is the first of many strong bonds in Helen's life. Teddy, her first love, is the disillusionment of adolescence; Stu, her first husband, has to leave before their marriage really has a chance; and, Fraser, an extraordinary friend, wants to show Helen how close two women could be. Through one of her students, the sad and disturbed Gena, Helen finally meets Norm, who isn't afraid to change his life and even his ideals for the sake of their relationship. And, in the end, he must, finally, surrender the future.
THE MARMALADE MAN 5/1981 ISBN: 0525152946 A group of women in their twenties and thirties struggle for personal success and financial security in a story of dreams and despair, love, and self-discovery
MATTERS OF THE HEART 3/1986 ISBN: 1892738058 It is wartime England in 1940 and Frances Holden has gone subtly mad at the age of forty; her actions have consequences that reverberate through decades. A shocking, hateful yet clever woman, Frances manages to alienate everyone who cares for her, particularly her long-suffering husband Arthur and her oldest friend Mandy. Frances is especially cruel to her young daughter Hadleigh. When her appalling behavior results indirectly in the deaths of three people, matters reach crisis point and Frances is forcibly institutionalized. A carefully planned effort to take her own life fails, and out of pity Arthur rescues his wife from the institution. Over the years, and in the course of this remarkable book, Frances becomes someone we care about almost in spite of ourselves. A singularly magnetic character who commands respect for her intelligence and plainspokenness, she manages to redeem herself ultimately through her delightful granddaughter Bonita. For Hadleigh, who throughout her childhood suffered at the hands of her mother, coming to terms with the woman is no easy thing. But in the end, despite numerous suicide attempts and her own battle with alcoholism, Hadleigh is at last able to acknowledge and honor the extraordinary, and often wildly funny woman who gave her life.
MEET ME IN TIME 1/1978 ISBN: 0965743799 The Burgess family of Remington Park is not like other families. Lisette is a mother who loves too much; who is troubled but doesn't know why; who needs, but doesn't know what it is she needs. Ray is a father distanced from his children, deeply in love with his wife, absorbed in his career. Dana, Gaby and Glenn are the products of this marriage. Three confused and uncertain people who keep trying, and failing, to make their way in the world. It is Glenn, the youngest child, who is the ultimate focus of this book; a greatly talented, but bewildered young woman who relies on alcohol to help her find some sort of path through her life. And it is Cory, son of Gaby and grandson of Lisette, who -- against the odds, in spite of the circumstances -- knows exactly what he wants and has a powerful inner direction that will allow him to attain it. And it is Cory, too, who, remarkably, has a gift for what everyone else in the family wants but has such difficulty finding: love.
MEMORIES 8/1984 ISBN: 189273804X Seventeen-year-old Hilary Forbes has spent the war years in her parents' London flat, refusing to be evacuated with her younger brother Colin. When she meets their neighbor's nephew, Claude deMartin, Hilary is at once taken with the handsome young man. And one reckless encounter leads to her becoming pregnant. Claude has returned to Switzerland. Hilary's parents are both involved in the war effort, and she's deeply afraid to tell her mother what has happened. But she does tell them and for reasons she could never guess her parents are surprisingly supportive. Claude returns to London just after the birth of their daughter, Dianne, and does the honorable thing. He and Hilary are married and return to the family home in Switzerland with the baby. But theirs is an arid, loveless marriage and just at the point when Hilary is prepared to concede defeat and return to England, Claude makes an effort to preserve their relationship. A second daughter, Cece, is born. After Claude's death and Hilary's disfigurement in an automobile accident, she moves with her daughters to Toronto. Too-British and constricted in upbringing, Hilary is unable to speak openly with Dianne who desperately needs the contact. Cece, easy-going and self-contained, chooses to live with her grandmother in Connecticut.
MIXED EMOTIONS 1991 ISBN: 0965743780 Twenty-two-year-old Margot Seaton meets Paul Rayburn at a party. He is six years older, funny, impulsive, and charming. She's immediately taken by his role-playing, his funny voices and accents, his whimsy. And in a spur-of-the-moment decision, agrees to marry him only days after they meet. Ignoring the small voice in her head that urges caution, and ignoring all the good advice her parents ever gave her, she begins a life with a man she scarcely knows. Initially, it's fun. But then Paul begins dictating the terms of her life, where she can and cannot go, what she should and shouldn't do. She must pay -- initially in small but upsetting ways -- for what she wants. But as time goes by, the payments evolve into ever worse acts of abuse. Margot is being harmed, physically and emotionally, and she's too ashamed and too frightened to confide in her parents. So the assaults continue, growing worse with the passage of time. Until, finally, fearing for her life and with the support of her parents, Margot runs. She finds work keeping house for Cameron Harley and his father Claude. It is a surprising and ill-kept sanctuary where Margot gradually rediscovers herself and her ability to trust others.
MOOD INDIGO 3/1998 ISBN: 0965743713 It is late winter 1934 in Manhattan when DeeDee Carlson dies after falling from the balcony of her apartment at the Ansonia. Her boyfriend, Chip Stevenson, begs Honoria Barlow-his late mother's closest friend, and his, as well-to look into the circumstances of DeeDee's death. Honoria insists that her experience as a script doctor doesn't qualify her to play gumshoe, but out of love for Chip, and against the wishes of her protective, Russian-born husband, Mikhail, she agrees to do a little sleuthing. This commitment takes Honoria and her assistant, Maybelle, into some of New York's most elegant dwellings where they meet the dead girl's mother and friends. Some of DeeDee's friends adored her; some loathed her. The young woman had many secrets, and as Honoria begins to uncover them, the situation turns as dangerous as the murderously cold weather.
NIGHT MAGIC 5/1989 ISBN: 0804105138 A beautiful, sensitive young girl falls in love with a brilliant older man who is so profoundly scarred both physically and emotionally that he literally cannot face the light of day. Despite his deep apprehensions, he allows her to enter his world of darkness, where they communicate their love for each other through music. Fearful of what he most craves, Erik nevertheless becomes convinced of Marisa's love. He nurtures and tutors her as she matures from girl to womanhood while she, in turn, teaches him to trust and gradually coaxes him into the light.
PAINTED LIVES 5/1990 Saga-1920s,30s/1940s,50s ISBN: 0804106681 Mattie Sylvester, widow of one of America's most celebrated painters, spends most of her time gazing out to sea on an island off the Atlantic Coast, remembering. Her new secretary, Sarah Kidd, is fascinated by the eccentric household, and its mistress - elegant, red-haired, feisty, and brooding. There must be tales she could tell about her fifty years with Gideon Sylvester. Slowly, as an unlikely bond forms between the two women, Mattie unravels the past - her early life, her circle of artist friends in the 1920s, her handsome, amusing, sexual wizard of a husband, their sons - but Sarah is shocked as nostalgia gives way to a simmering rage. As they talk through the nights in the rambling old house, she learns the truth about Gideon, the enormity of what he did to his brilliant wife. And Sarah realizes she holds the key to a revelation that could stagger the outside world...
PARTING GIFTS 2/1985 ISBN: 1551669005 When Kyra Latimer loses her husband to a freak accident in Manhattan, she can't imagine how she'll be able to move into the future without him. But on the day of his funeral, the unimaginable happens. A young woman, with a small boy in tow, shows up at Kyra's home, claiming to be the child Kyra surrendered for adoption some twenty-odd years before. Refusing to accept the truth - that Kyra cannot possibly be her mother - Jennifer Cullen insists on leaving her three-year-old son, Jesse, with his 'grandmother.' Touched by the boy's visible neglect, Kyra agrees to keep Jesse. And Kyra takes on a new role - as mother. As it turns out, Jesse is no ordinary child, and Kyra is no ordinary mother. In the course of their life together, Kyra and Jesse flourish and flounder in unanticipated ways. Until, finally, Kyra is forced to confront an impossible choice: whether or not to honor the life-or-death decision of her adopted son.
PIECES OF DREAMS 2/1985 ISBN: 0425075826 Strangers... Caley Burrell had her life all mapped out. She knew who she would love, who she would marry, where they would live and how many children they would have. Martin Maddox had a devoted wife and two sons. He was going to live happily every after. Then one day, continents apart, to the sound of a crowded airport, a breaking windshield, and a love song on the radio - two lives were shattered. Two strangers. Until the miracle. Until they met.
PROMISES 4/1980 ISBN: 0425074455 They were both still kids when Jess promised her dying father that she would take care of her sister Tillie, no matter what. Even if it meant selling her body that was just trembling on the verge of womanhood. Even if it meant sacrificing her own chances for happiness again and again. Even if it meant seeing love repaid with scorn and jealousy...Promises is the story of two sisters, one you will love and one you will hate, and the promises that shape their lives. In it you will meet an unforgettable heroine, who will keep all her promises but one - the one that every woman secretly makes to herself.
RUNNING AWAY 11/1977 ISBN: 1551661500 Isable finally has it all: a rising career and a warm relationship with a wonderful man, a tenuous rapport with her teenage daughter, Denny. But in the blink of an eye, everything changes. When Denny runs away, Isabel's world falls apart. Marshall is incapable of understanding her anguish over her daughter's disappearance, and just when she needs him most, he, too, runs away. Alone, Isabel must deal with the mounting pressures of a competitively cutthroat job, her anxiety over Denny's whereabouts, and the mysterious appearance of Brian - who could be her salvation if only she can trust him not to betray her.
SOMEBODY'S BABY 7/1995 ISBN: 1551660679 Imagine this: On her deathbed, your mother confesses to an unthinkable crime. Thirty years before, she stole you from a New York City supermarket. She is not your mother. You are somebody's baby, but not hers. This is Snow Devane's story. At thirty-one, she is a successful child portrait photographer living in Manhattan. Her life is everything she wants it to be. And she has managed to establish some distance from the mother she loves but who would, given the opportunity, smother her with caring concern. Her mother's deathbed confession upends Snow's entire life. Who was this woman Snow thought she knew? What drove her to steal another woman's child? What happened to the woman who, thirty years before, turned around to find her baby gone? And, finally, who is Snow Devane?
SWEETER MUSIC 11/1976 ISBN: 1892738023 The neglected adopted child of an invalid mother and her devoted husband, Lisa Hamilton has grown up isolated, her one true love being her music. Most of the time, life is incomprehensible to Lisa. She is quietly alienated, becoming more and more lost to the only thing that makes sense to her: the music she hears in her head, and that she discovers she can perform to great public approval. Leaving home as a teenager to go on the road, Lisa becomes a vagabond troubadour, singing in clubs, making love to lonely men; with no real life. Until the terrible assault by the man she'd elected to protect her results in a pregnancy. And suddenly there is within her grasp the possibility of the one thing she's never had: a family. Working at a luxury hotel in the Bahamas, Lisa begins, at last, to consider her life and her future, and decides she must now, finally, begin to take care of herself; to make plans. And then, Chas Clayton arrives to offer her the chance not only to have a recording career, but to complete the family portrait she has begun mentally to paint.
TIME/STEPS 5/1987 ISBN: 1892738309 It was the Great Depression, a time of breadlines and of terrible, widespread poverty. But it was also a time when the movies--particularly musicals--were a source of comfort and refuge and entertainment for millions. It was a time when a gifted young dancer could get her start on Broadway and wind up a movie star. Beatrice Crane is that dancer, that movie star. And this is the story of her life, in the best black-and-white cinematic tradition. Beatrice Crane and Bobby Bradley were Hollywood's greatest dance team--until the events of one horrific night changed both their personal and private lives forever. It's a journey through the Golden Age of Hollywood--the magic, the bright lights, and the shining stars of the American dream factory.