検索キーワード： 著者 "April Smith" 官能・ロマンス

Palm Beach, 1961. Socialite, irresistible rascal, and devoted father Jack Morgan stages his suicide to shield his beloved daughters from scandal and disgrace. His daughter, Charlotte (Charlie), is an overindulged 23-year-old girl struggling to cope with the loss of her beloved father, her sister's resulting mental breakdown, and the discovery that she's now penniless. Fortunately Raul, an admiring young attorney, offers assistance to the traumatized young woman.

Dying of cancer and worried about his immortal soul, that rascal Jack confesses his long list of sins to the Reverend Nigel. The stunned but sympathetic clergyman convinces Jack that his most heinous sin was perpetrated on his daughters, who believe that he committed suicide. Both men agree that seeing their father suddenly reappear, only to die a painful death shortly after, would cause additional harm.

After losing his parents and sister in a fire, Jake is raised by his grandparents. As he transforms from a traumatized boy to an exceptional student athlete and finally to an ambitious assistant DA, he learns to hide a crippling fear behind a stony mask. Until she turns 13, Bettina (Tina) Berenson is a shy, bookish girl rejected by both parents. But her life radically changes when her father starts taking her to the places he frequents: racetracks, prizefights, nightclubs, and the occasional company of gangsters he admires.

In Manhattan, being recently dumped by her soul mate becomes the least of Charlotte (Charlie) Morgan's problems after she is viciously pushed off a subway platform in front of an oncoming train. Her modeling career seems over, and she may not walk again. Throughout her lengthy hospital stay, the police have no success finding her assailant or determining a motive. A handsome detective recovering from similar injuries is assigned to be her physical therapy partner.

The United States Congress in 1929 passed legislation to fund travel for mothers of the fallen soldiers of World War I to visit their sons’ graves in France. Over the next three years, 6,693 Gold Star Mothers made the trip. In this emotionally charged, brilliantly realized novel, April Smith breathes life into a unique moment in American history, imagining the experience of five of these women. They are strangers at the start, but their lives will become inextricably intertwined, altered in indelible ways.