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Nan A. Talese
September 2007
On Sale: September 18, 2007
304 pages
ISBN: 0385515456
Hardcover
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Chloe Daleβs life is in good order. Her only child, Toby, has started his junior year at New York University; her husband, an academic on sabbatical, is working at home on his book about the Crusades; and Chloe is busy creating illustrations for a special edition of Emily BrontΓ«βs Wuthering Heights. Yet Chloe is disturbedβby the aggression of her governmentβs foreign policy, by the poacher who roams the land behind her studio punctuating her solitude with rifle fire, and finally, by Tobyβs new girlfriend, a Croatian refugee named Salome Drago.
Raised in the Croatian expatriate community of New Orleans, Salome is a toxic mix of the old world and the new: intelligent, superstitious, sly, seductive, and confident. But Salomeβs past is a mine of dangerous secrets, and the violence that destroyed her homeland is far from over. Chloe distrusts her on sight, and as Tobyβs obsession with Salome grows, Chloeβs mistrust deepens, alienating her from her tolerant husband and besotted son. Rich with menace, the novel unfolds in a world where darkness intrudes into bright and pleasant places, a world with betrayal at its heart. In shimmering prose Valerie Martin raises the question: who shall inherit America?
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