Belle Haven Author:Juliet Fitzgerald When Dabney Beale returns to Belle Haven in the spring of 1920, it is out of utter despair. Orphaned, penniless, and expelled from college, she is forced to seek refuge at the family estate. A proud house, it was once renowned for the splendor of its stables, its hospitality, and the beauty of the four daughters whose portraits still adorn its w... more »alls. All except one...
Now, like a rusty jewel set in Virginia's famous horse country, Belle Haven has fallen into a state of eminent decay at the hands of Dabney's aunt Charlotte - a woman known for her beauty and her tyrannical power-her alcoholic husband, Austin, her evil lover, Eugene, and their retinue of strange servants. The estate, like Dabney's own life, has become a mockery, a monument to dashed hopes and disillusionment.
In the face of Charlotte's relentless scorn, Dabney finds peace only in the seclusion of the Belle Haven lake, away from the intrigues and dark secrets of her aunt's depraved household. The lake becomes her refuge and the setting for a chance meeting with a handsome young doctor that will change both their lives. Like Dabney's, Bay Hamilton's fate has been cruelly altered by Charlotte's careless passion. Trapped by old loyalties, he can never forgive Charlotte's trespasses. Yet, neither can he forget Dabney Beale...
On the night of the gala Belle Haven ball, the inescapable decadence bred into the very bones of her family -a depravity deeper than she ever realized- rears its head in a single violent act that will leave Dabney utterly alone, confronting the evil that lurks within Belle Haven's halls...
With shades of Daphne du Maurier and Victoria Holt, Belle Haven marks the debut of a talented new writer of the classic gothic novel.« less