During the reign of Queen Victoria, but in a parallel universe in which all humans have been given the gift of magic, and dragons and flying carpets are real, two factions have set out on a quest to find a sacred ruby, the Heart of Light, which has the power to concentrate the magic powers of an entire continent and bestow them on a single family line. Nigel Oldhall and his innocent new bride, Emily, have been sent to Africa by Queen Victoria on a secret mission to locate the stone and bring it back to England.

Opposing them are the Hyena Men, a secret society of those loyal to Africa, who plan to stop the English from stealing the stone, thus insuring Africa will remain free of English tyranny. Leading the expedition is Kitwana, a prince of his native tribe, and Nassira, the lone female member of the Hyena Men, who was instructed to track the Oldhalls ever since they left England. Kitwana and Nassira intercept the Oldhall party, which now includes Nigel's former school friend, Peter Farewell, in Khartoum, and convince Nigel to hire them and their fellow Hyena Men to act as guides on the quest.

With the assistance of a compass stone which points in the direction of the hidden ruby, they set off into the African wilderness, but suspicion and danger follow them like a dark cloud. Emily and Nigel, who never consummated their marriage before reaching Africa, begin turning against each other after Peter's suspicious behavior leads Nigel to accuse Emily of having an affaire. To make matters worse, Emily discovers that Nigel has spent an evening alone in the jungle with Nassira, convincing Emily that Nigel would prefer to be free of her. Kitwana and Nassira, meanwhile, must face the fact that their English companions are not the embodiment of evil which they imagined. While Kitwana sees Nigel as weak and unworthy of Emily, and he suspects that Peter is hiding a dark secret, he's humbled by Emily's beauty, compassion and strength. Nassira is disgusted by Kitwana's obvious attraction to the English woman, but she also can't help feeling a strong urge to protect the weak-hearted Nigel from doing something stupid which will get him killed in the jungle.

On the night Kitwana solves the riddle of Peter's strange behavior and is ordered by the leader of the Hyena Men to take action, a chain of events is set in motion which will force the two groups to form unlikely alliances against an unexpected adversary, and the race will be on to save the stone from falling into the hands of a power-hungry madman set on world domination.

The best word to describe HEART OF LIGHT is "epic". This book is part romance, part action adventure, and part fantasy, reminiscent of a Tolkien adventure. Despite a very serious subject matter and a strong conflict, nearly all the characters are likeable from the very beginning. This also makes the storyline unpredictable, which is a big plus for a 500 page novel. The twists and turns of plot made it a difficult book to put down, and the ending left me eagerly awaiting book two, SOUL OF FIRE, due out in August. I hope you'll find it as delightful as I did!