The ton explodes with malicious gossip.Where did Phoebe’s mysterious riches come from? Everyone wants to know—and so does she. But too many people in her glittering new world aren’t who they seem to be. And then there’s the confusing behavior of handsome Captain Anthony Grenville—the man who once ruined her.With scandalous rumors flying, Phoebe can’t afford to succumb to passion again. But can the newly-minted Heiress of Holborn discover the truth about her fortune... before her secret enemies can ruin her life?

    For little Blanche the future appears bleak. Then one fateful day Blanche's mother is requested at the 'big house' to nurse Marianne, the motherless daughter of John Savill whose wife has died in childbirth. The two girls, so different in their hopes, are brought up together caring for each other as sisters. Blanche is torn between her love for her real mother and her desire for a life of wealth and ease. Her friendship with Marianne remains the one constant in her life. But then she meets Marianne's intended husband, with tragic consequences for them all. In this original and vivid saga, Jess Foley weaves a tale of passion and pain against a background of unsentimentalized rural England.