Charmaine Ryan knows only poverty and pain growing up. In the wake of a horrifying tragedy, she seeks a new life, and fate leads her into the private world of the wealthy Duvoisin clan. At first, it seems as if nothing terrible could touch this seemingly charmed family. But an ill wind blows through the halls and chambers of the Duvoisins' sprawling island retreat, carrying betrayal, deceit, and ominous peril. Quickly, Charmaine is caught up in the secrets and mystique swirling around the enigmatic family. At the center are shipping tycoon Frederic Duvoisin and his youthful wife, Colette. And there is Paul Duvoisin, a dashing seducer and Frederic's bastard son, who stirs a dangerous fascination in the two women; the scheming Agatha Ward, who will not rest until she's taken Colette's place in Frederic's heart as well as in his bed; and exiled son, John, who reenters the family fold, stoking the turmoil as he unveils truths best kept hidden. Ultimately, Charmaine chooses to stand with Colette against formidable enemies, but has she made the right decision? A sweeping, remarkable blend of adventure, romance, intrigue, and suspense, A Silent Ocean Away heralds the arrival of a glorious new voice on the historical fiction scene. Pretty young Charmaine Ryan grew up poor and miserable in pre-Civil War Richmond, so when she is hired as a companion to a wealthy woman, she’s thrilled—even more so when she’s recommended as a governess for the young heirs to the Duvoisin sugarcane fortune. Charmaine moves to the Duvoisins’ main house in the Caribbean and quickly learns that wealth is no guard against misery. Charmaine is a silent witness to the machinations of the Duvoisins. Frederic, the head of the family and paralyzed from a stroke, names his illegitimate son heir to the family fortune; nurses his ailing wife, who is half his age; outmaneuvers his conniving sister-in-law, who is only waiting for her chance to be his wife; and keeps the plantation from failing. When Frederic’s legitimate son, a rake and a roustabout, returns from Virginia, it’s all the family can do to hold themselves together. Intrigue thrives and breeds obsession in the first in Deva’s planned trilogy dramatizing the rise and fall of antebellum royalty. --Hilary Hatton Charmaine Ryan knows only poverty and pain growing up. In the wake of a horrifying tragedy, she seeks a new life, and fate leads her into the private world of the wealthy Duvoisin clan. At first, it seems as if nothing terrible could touch this seemingly charmed family. But an ill wind blows through the halls and chambers of the Duvoisins' sprawling island retreat, carrying betrayal, deceit, and ominous peril. Quickly, Charmaine is caught up in the secrets and mystique swirling around the enigmatic family. At the center are shipping tycoon Frederic Duvoisin and his youthful wife, Colette. And there is Paul Duvoisin, a dashing seducer and Frederic's bastard son, who stirs a dangerous fascination in the two women; the scheming Agatha Ward, who will not rest until she's taken Colette's place in Frederic's heart as well as in his bed; and exiled son, John, who reenters the family fold, stoking the turmoil as he unveils truths best kept hidden. Ultimately, Charmaine chooses to stand with Colette against formidable enemies, but has she made the right decision? A sweeping, remarkable blend of adventure, romance, intrigue, and suspense, A Silent Ocean Away heralds the arrival of a glorious new voice on the historical fiction scene. DeVa Gantt is the pseudonym for coauthor sisters Debra and Valerie Gantt, career women, homemakers, and mothers. They are the authors of two previous books in the Duvoisin family saga, A Silent Ocean Away and Decision and Destiny .