An eloquent debut novel set amid two historical hotbeds of racial tension, moral hypocrisy, and shifting sexual convention Miss Arabella Leeds, the high-spirited teenage daughter of a prominent New York family, and Aubrey "Brie" Paxton, the "high yellow" pampered house servant of wealthy French-American slave-holders, are destined to fall in love. They are each bound for London, where their chance meeting will transform both of their lives. But before their paths can cross, they will experience high adventure, erotic awakening, and the discovery of long-buried family secrets amid the salacious underpinnings of corseted Victorian society. And as the Civil War drenches America in blood, it will be their passion, unstoppable and forbidden, that will challenge both Arabella and Brie to rethink what freedom means and what love costs . . . as their bond places them forever outside the mores and conventions of their time.
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"I loved this book! It was a little weird at first because I would get drawn into Arabella's story and then it would switch to Aubrey's story. The stories were so different and disconnected at first but as the stories came together it was impossible to put the book down. A really great book!"
— K (5 out of 5 stars)
" great story about an interracial couple in the 1860s. the reader gets the perspective from a slave in LA and a society woman living in england during the civil war "
— Laura, 12/4/2013" Sweeping historical saga with such plot elements as interracial romance, suffragettes, morphine addiction, and lesbian innuendo, it's easy to see her mentor was E.L. Doctorow. "
— Marie, 10/22/2013" Fast easy historical novel about the life of a slave. "
— Sherry, 10/2/2013" While the story would have been just as good, probably better, as a narrative, it is a very good story that never moves too slow. "
— Connie, 8/19/2013" a total bodice-ripper, but yet, really good? yes. "
— Stephanie, 6/13/2013" I've read this a long time ago so I can't remember the details, but I quite enjoyed it at the time. A complete surprise since this was an impulse buy and I didn't know the author before. "
— Tania, 5/6/2013" one of the only books that kept me alone and in the bed for 6 days straight. "
— Molly, 4/27/2013" This was a great story, there were a few threads that did not get wrapped up in the end. Reaaly quite a bodice ripper. "
— Cyd, 3/26/2013Nora Hague trained as an actor in New York before turning her hand to writing. She went on to graduate from the creative writing program at New York University, where she started this novel. She lives in Manhattan.
Mary Peiffer is an audiobook narrator, most known for her narration of Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries.