Alexander (Within My Heart) has crafted a cleverly designed story line featuring an artist, Claire Laurent, who is forced to paint forgeries. Claire's art gallery owner father forces her to comply with his illegal activities and then dies, leaving her to fend for herself. Claire finds shelter with a compassionate minister and his wife before landing a position with Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America in the 1860s. Claire also meets Sutton Monroe, a young lawyer who is obsessed with righting the wrongful death of his father, but who is growing increasingly interested in Claire-and her past. Through painful pangs of conscience and events out of Claire's control, she has to decide if she is willing to hide her past or admit her mistakes to those who've shown nothing but goodwill toward her. Alexander does a lovely job of representing the historical details of this time in American history without letting the facts distract from a tenderly told love story. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Claire Laurent is a gifted artist who is forced to paint forgeries by her scheming father. Eventually, she flees New Orleans for Nashville, where she accepts a position working for Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in post-Civil War America. Hiding from her past, Claire is thrust into Nashville's upper echelon, where she meets Sutton Monroe, a lawyer bent on avenging his father's murder. VERDICT Rich in period details and set in Nashville's historic Belmont Mansion, this historical romance by RITA and Christy Award winner Alexander (The Inheritance) is a sure bet for fans of Tracie Peterson and Melanie Dobson. [60,000-copy first printing.] (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.