The Prodigal Daughter: A Novel

The youngest daughter of a secretive dynasty returns from a decade in exile, but will her ancestral home become her prison? The intoxicating follow-up to Isabella Valeri’s Letters from the Dead.Now twenty-two years old, the only daughter of the sixteenth generation is abruptly recalled from her indolent life abroad to return to the isolated Alpine estate where she spent the first twelve years of her life. So many of her childhood memories have been savaged in her long absence. Her grandfather, the former patriarch of the family, is dead. “The Chairman,” her father, now rules the dynasty with a cold and clinical efficiency. Recalling his daughter was no accident. The dynasty has plans for the only “daughter of the line.” She quickly finds herself engaged to an aristocratic playboy whom she does not love. A virtual prisoner and without so much as a sympathetic ear, she must begin to solve the mysteries her grandfather first hinted at; the enigmas of a 350-year-old secret society that she must untangle if she is to enlist those who might help her escape. Her efforts to co-opt her father’s trusted aide seem inspired, but will her growing feelings for this handsome, former mercenary with a mysterious past compromise all her efforts, and can she ever be sure where his true loyalties lie? Even worse, the shadowy forces intent on destroying her family grow ever bolder. With time running out, she must accept the lifetime of servitude that loyalty demands, or choose a dangerous path that could see her forever branded a traitor and cost those closest to her everything. Read more