Cutler

In her fine new Virginia school, Dawn Longchamp feels happy and safe. But nothing is what it seems... Now Dawn and her older brother Jimmy have a chance for a decent, respectable life, and Dawn’s secret, precious hope to study singing can come true. Philip Cutler, the handsomest boy in school, sets Dawn’s heart on fire. She is deeply devoted to her brooding brother; but with Philip, she imagines a lovely dream of romance...

Dawn can hardly believe she’s a student at one of New York City’s best performing arts schools, on track to achieve her dreams of becoming a professional singer. But she is still haunted by memories of Jimmy, her strong, intense boyfriend, and the love and anguished secrets they share. Then Michael Sutton arrives, a new teacher at the school, a singing star and the most handsome man Dawn has ever seen. Together they create a world of feeling she has never known.

As the new owner of the Cutler’s Cove hotel and with her darling Jimmy and her beautiful daughter Christie, Dawn has everything she could ever hope for—but she can’t seem to quell her forebodings of evil. She can sense Grandmother Cutler’s hateful presence everywhere, as if the old lady is plotting vengeance from the grave. When Dawn discovers that her brother still clings to his mad, shameful passion for her, she is horrified.

Having grown up surrounded by love and safety, there’s no real reason for Christie Longchamp to feel that a cloud hovers over Cutler’s Cove—a cloud with origins in her family’s troubled history. But when Christie discovers the truth about her uncle’s unbrotherly love for her mother Dawn, she’s desperate to get away. Fleeing to New York City, she finds her real father...a pathetic, helpless has-been. Desperate and heartbroken, she turns to Gavin, her Daddy Jimmy’s young and handsome stepbrother. In his arms, Christie finds a refuge from her painful memories.

Lillian's world is full of grand parties, sunshine, and promises, as thrilling as the fairy tales Mama spins for her and her little sister, Eugenia. No one, not even her cold, stern Papa and her Bible spouting sister Emily, can crush her spirits—until the day Emily reveals the shattering secret at Lillian's birth, a secret Mama sadly cannot deny. Still Lillian refuses to believe Emily's hateful claim that she is evil, a curse...even when sweet, gentle Eugenia loses her fragile hold on life, and Mama retreats further into her fantasies.