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Hidden Jewel
First published 1995 · 459 pages
A sultry, tempestuous dive into the dark secrets and romantic awakenings of a family haunted by its own tainted legacy.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into the sultry, oppressive heat of a Louisiana summer, where dark family secrets loom like gathering hurricane clouds. The narrative moves at a brisk, melodramatic pace, sweeping the reader from the bright, festive hope of a young woman's coming-of-age into a tempest of sudden tragedy, illness, and parental abandonment. It is a deeply atmospheric experience, blending the suspense of a horror-tinged domestic saga with the earnest yearning of a sweeping romance. The prose leans heavily into the dramatic, utilizing the bayou setting and stormy weather to mirror the characters' turbulent emotional states. It will thoroughly delight readers who devour gothic-tinged family dramas filled with buried sins, bourbon-soaked despair, and the promise of a tender, hard-won refuge.
- Mood
- sultry
- tempestuous
- shadowy
- atmospheric
- Tone
- melodramatic
- suspenseful
- romantic
- earnest
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- buried family secrets · tainted legacies · romantic awakening · loss of innocence · weathering tragedy
- The writing
- Atmospheric and highly emotive, leaning into the sultry, dramatic imagery of the Louisiana setting.
- The arc
- Moves from hopeful innocence through a tempest of family tragedy and dark secrets, culminating in a hard-won, tender refuge.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave atmospheric, suspenseful family sagas dripping with dark secrets, tragedy, and sweeping romance.
Content notes
- family tragedy
- severe illness
- alcoholism
- accidents
About the book
Pearl hopes for happiness, but destiny is drawing her deep into the shadows of her family's tainted past....
Raised in a New Orleans mansion filled with kindness and laughter, Pearl Andreas dreams of going to college and becoming a doctor. With all the finest families wishing her well, her high school graduation party is almost as festive as Mardi Gras itself. But even a famous jazz back's beat cannot drive away her fear that she will never know the magic of romantic passion, or the truth of her family's buried secrets. Yet her summer job as a nurse's aide in an elegant old hospital is as fascinating as she hoped it would be... and an experienced intern is eager to share his friendship with her.
But the sultry Louisiana heat cannot dispel her family's sinful legacy, or the cruel accident that befalls one of Pearl's twin brothers. Then the bayou that caught him in its spell beckons to her mother, Ruby, who flees, tormented, back to her Cajun roots. With Pearl's other brother deathly ill, and her father retreating into his own bourbon-soaked world, Pearl's cherished dreams swirl away with the hurricane winds.
Seeking her mother and the shocking truths of her heritage, she finds a blessed refuge in the arms of a Cajun man, the gentlest friend she has ever known. But only when the storm clouds clear can she savor the springtime sweetness that always, always seems beyond tomorrow....
Description from Open Library.
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