Whispering

When Caterina Gomez returns to her beloved home of Oporto, Portugal, her troubles have only just begun. The country is at war with France and, even though Oporto is no longer in French hands, it is a shadow of its former self. The scandalous cloud that Caterina left under is still not forgotten, and her cruel and distant father insists on a hasty marriage or the convent. Half English and half Portuguese, she must walk a fine line between both societies, which is all made near impossible considering her troubled past.

Thankfully, her dear friend Miss Harriet Brown and cousin Jeremy Craddock have accompanied her from England. But Harriet can only offer comfort whilst sharing in her fate, and Jeremy, who is seeking treatment for his ill health, becomes distracted by his fair and pretty healer. Then Caterina's past resurfaces in a most confusing manner in the shape of Luiz, her childhood sweetheart, drawing her further into the tangles of political intrigue. Romantic as the adventure is, Caterina must try to keep a cool head in order to find out quickly those who can be trusted, and those who are not what they appear. For she has a secret, one that must be guarded at all costs...

• *Whispering, first published in 1995, is another great historical romance from the master of the genre - Jane Aiken Hodge.

Autorentext

Jane Aiken Hodge was born in Massachusetts to Pulitzer prize-winning poet, Conrad Aiken, and his first wife, writer Jessie McDonald. Hodge was 3 years old when her family moved to Great Britain, settling in Rye, East Sussex, where her younger sister, Joan, who would become a novelist and a children's writer, was born.

From 1935, Jane Hodge read English at Somerville College, Oxford University, and in 1938 she took a second degree in English at Radcliffe College. She was a civil servant, and also worked for Time Magazine, before returning to the UK in 1947. Her works of fiction include historical novels and contemporary detective novels. In 1972 she renounced her United States citizenship and became a British subject.