"But the dreams she and Rane have built demand that the torch be carried by new generations. As the years pass, Alex devotes herself to shaping the destinies of her children and grandchildren, insuring that Wild Swan's hard- won reputation in racing circles will flourish. When the thrilling debut of a great Thoroughbred named Swan's Chance is nearly overshadowed by the growing corruption of slavery in their adopted land, Alex must renew her struggle to keep Wild Swan a haven from the rising political turmoil that threatens all she holds dear. Her children share her love for the land and her hopes for the horses, but follow paths of their own: Morgan pursues his father's dreams of the sea and faraway lands, and Blaine seeks justice under the law, while Nigel shares his medical skills with the poor; Flora elects the cause of women's suffrage, and Gweneth, the last child of Alex and Rane's great love, will be drawn back to England to pursue her heart's dream. But it is Gincie, Alex's fiery-willed granddaughter, who becomes the child of her soul; Gincie who will be Alex's spiritual heir as a healer, fighter and peacemaker, a young woman whose courage and daring leads her to risk her life on the Underground Railway - and to find enduring love amid the danger.
"But the coming of war is most devastating for the people of Wild Swan. Torn by divided loyalties and the need for tragic choices, the Falconers face this harshest test of all through paths that lead to the bloodied ground of Gettysburg, to the bleak horror of Andersonville, to the clear and present danger threatening Wild Swan itself. No one can foresee the cost of keeping the dream alive - or where the future will lead. They know only that, whatever fate may command, a part of their hearts will remain forever in the good earth of Wild Swan."
"Here was a man at once strong and yet vulnerable, who bore fierce pain and never cried out, whose very being hungered for love but who would not risk reaching out for it - not from his small son, not from Mary. A man who would not ask for trust, but instead would take her to a private place where, slowly, she could learn to be free. Free enough to love. Free enough to offer her true name.
"There, on Drake's Island, the woman who called herself Mary would find a new life. There a tenuous love would grow between The Tiger and his woman - until the past caught them both to send the world into flame, to test the strength and timbre of a very special love."
"It is with the Falconers on the wild, wind-swept coast of Devon where the free trade thrives and fills the days and nights with danger that Alexandria's life gloriously begins. For here is Rane Falconer, the handsome, dark-haired young man in whose eyes she glimpses the reflection of her own soul. Rane, who sees in the child the woman Alexandria will become - the woman he will love for the rest of his life.
"But those days are nearly forgotten when Alexandria is summoned home to care for her dead sister's children. Soon, she will have to care as well for their father, St. John Carrington, who returns from Waterloo shattered in body and spirit. So much of herself and her love does Alexandria lavish on restoring him to health that it seems natural for her to become his wife - a union sanctioned by neither church nor state. And so great is St. John's need for her that when Rane comes at last to claim her, it is too late. But those brief, stolen moments with Rane awaken Alexandria to her own sensuality and forever alter her life. For Rane will ever stay a part of her, as close as her own soul, though loyalty and love of a different kind will bind her to St. John - to their life together in a new land, to their children, and to Wild Swan, the Maryland farm where the magnificent Thoroughbred racing stock that is the Carringtons' dream and fortune is bred."
