Casada con un amigo de infancia, Zipporah disfruta de su vida apacible y convencional. Atrás queda el legado de escándalo de su abuela Carlotta. Viaja a Eversleigh, ese sitio cargado de malicia y de peligro, solo para atender la llamada de un anciano moribundo. Pero cuando deja Eversleigh Court, Zipporah ya no será la misma.

Incapaz de resistir la sensualidad de un extranjero, Zipporah sucumbe frente a Gérard d’Aubigné y se embarca en una aventura ilícita cuya recompensa es un secreto agobiante. Pronto, el espíritu de Carlotta Eversleigh se enseñorea de su vida, mientras el escándalo, la violencia y el engaño amenazan con destruirla. Nadie saldrá indemne, ni siquiera su hija.

This author doesn’t often write fast-paced narratives, but she does so here.

Yes, there’s the usual repetition of specific themes, which I believe comes from not redrafting her novels enough times, but I favour dialogue-heavy stories like this that don’t meander.

I consider this one of the better episodes in the Daughters of England series. Although certain outcomes were predictable, this didn’t spoil things. ( )

Read during Fall 2002

So, it only took me until the third Phillippa Carr novel to realize they are about the same family, spread through the generations. This one sits between Lament for a Lost Lover and The Return of the Gypsy and takes place in the reign of George III. The title is heavyhanded and the novel is often the same. It felt alot more like the time between the two novels had to be filled in. There is a family tree printed in the front but with the dizzying array of children from extra-marital affairs, it is hard to really know who is related to who. Zipporah lives a calm and placid life with her husband, Jean-Louis, and tolerates her mother and aunt doting on and spoiling rotten the aunt's son. This young man I believe will be the scion of the family in the Gypsy novel. There is mystery and intrigue surronding a scheming housekeeper and the heir to Eversleigh, a few affairs, characters conviently killed off when no longer needed. Fine but the second half really petered out.