Black Garden

"The small town of Ste. Odile is about to host a new visitor. Perdita Badon-Reed has come to this place to hone her skill as a sculptress, but also to escape a life behind her, including a fiancâe, that she isn't sure she wants. For a woman in 1882, this is a huge risk, but her stong will determines she must take it. She believes staying at the home of her uncle, Father Condell, and taking on a commissioned sculpture will help her clear her emotions and find meaning to her need for escape. But all is not as it seems in this quiet community. Its secrets are dark and deep, and Perdita finds herself entangling in them. A young woman sentenced to death attaches herself to Perdita, an orphaned girl at the convent sees visions and illustrates them with a talent beyond her years, and a persistant strangeness hovers as to why Perdita's fiancâe's sister lost her life in connection to this town. But the most mysterious of all is Orien Bastide, an extremely wealthy man who seems to be a benefactor to Ste. Odile but is an enigma, nearly a legend, to the residents. Perdita's embroilment becomes an urgency to help those around her, to find answers to perplexing questions that continue to mistify. Her persistence and strength persevere, but will they be enough to save her from an unimaginable horror waiting in the shadows?"--