Bestselling novelist Danielle Steel takes us on a harrowing journey into the heart of America\'s hidden shame in a novel that explores the power of forgiveness, the dark side of childhood, and one woman\'s unbreakable spirit.
But their relationship leads to tragedy as Joe must choose between the priesthood and Gabriella, and life in the real world where he fea.
With Gabriella, Joe takes the first steps toward healing.
Like Gabriella, Joe is haunted by the pain of his childhood, consumed by guilt over a family tragedy, for which he blames himself.
And friendship grows dangerously into love.
Confession leads to friendship.
Father Joe Connors never questioned his vocation until Gabriella entered the confessional and shared her soul.
Then a young priest comes into her life.
Amid the quiet safety and hushed rituals of the nuns, Gabriella grows into womanhood in a safe, peaceful world.
There, Gabriella\'s battered body and soul begin to mend.
And when her parents\' marriage collapses, Gabriella is given her first reprieve, as her father disappears, and then her mother abandons her to a convent.
Only writing can dull the pain of her lonely world.
Even as a child, her only escape is through the stories she writes.
Gabriella knows that, try as she might, there is no safe place for her to hide.
Her parents\' aristocratic world is no safeguard against the abuse that knows no boundaries, respects no person, no economic lines.
Her world is a confusing blend of terror, betrayal, and pain.
Gabriella already knows to hide her bruises, certain she is to blame for her mother\'s rage--and her father\'s failure to protect her.
Later, she waits for the click, click, click of her mother\'s high heels, the angry words, and the pain that will follow.
But she can\'t resist the magic.
At seven, she knows she is an intruder in her parents\' party, in her parents\' life.
From her secret perch at the top of the stairs, Gabriella Harrison watches the guests arrive at her parents\' lavish Manhattan townhouse.
Bestselling novelist Danielle Steel takes us on a harrowing journey into the heart of America\'s hidden shame in a novel that explores the power of forgiveness, the dark side of childhood, and one woman\'s unbreakable spirit
