Blurb:
England, 1816
Dr. Peter Fairbanks travels to
Derbyshire in hopes of founding his own practice and setting up a
life for himself. Before he can settle in, he is invited to a
house-party at the sprawling estate of Ravenwood Fields by its master
Baron Ravenwood, Lord William Pierce. Never suspecting the secret which haunts its
grounds, he consents to stay indefinitely as the family doctor. But
between the strange behavior of his patients and the sensational
scandal which simmers just under the surface of the posh family's
carefully crafted exterior, he begins to question his choice.
Arabella Pierce has not felt right
since the carriage accident. She is plagued by strange dreams and
visions. Her head never seems to stop hurting. When she is
introduced to Dr. Fairbanks, she feels no attraction yet something
inside urges her to become better acquainted with the handsome
physician. Tormented by inner passions, resistance brings her
increasingly closer to a state of desperation and danger.
Excerpt:
While the family ate, the sun rose higher in the sky. The light shone down on Arabella’s face. She was in the familiar state of wakefulness between dreaming and cognizance. Images faded from her mind as her body once more realized her limbs. She smelled Earth and felt moisture on her back. Supposing those to be fragments of a rescinding dream, she opened her eyes. The horror of the truth set in hard as she found herself looking up into the boughs of a large mulberry bush. Sucking in shallow, panicking breaths, she rolled out from underneath the hedge and scrambled to her feet. She turned about frantically. Why was she in the garden? How had she gotten there? Tears stung her eyes as fear gripped her heart. Behind her the house loomed. Despite her mud-caked slippers, she flew toward her waiting sanctuary.
Somehow avoiding the servants she all but ran to her room and, regaining most of her wits, locked herself in the safety of its walls. A fire crackled in the hearth. A bowl of piping hot water was waiting in a basin on her dressing table. Her heart beat hard in her chest as she washed her face. She searched the mirror for changes in her appearance; there were no discernible ones though her her eyes were bloodshot and her skin white with distress. Looking into the bowl, she noticed her hands were abominably dirty, black soil caked under her fingernails. She picked it free, scrubbing vigorously until her fingers were red.
‘Oh God,’ she thought to herself. ‘Not again...’
She lay down on the closest couch that would support her, her body curling in tightly until her knees were tucked under her chin. Her head was split in half with pain. She took deep breaths and shut her eyes. This had happened once before. There hadn't been an explanation for it then and there wasn’t one now. And whereas before she’d told her father, she would not dare tell him now.
Author Links
About the Author:
R.A. Mizer was born R.A. Hackney in Pune, India in 1986. She was the first child of a Caucasian father and an Indian mother whom her father met during his college years. Her parents brought her to the United States when she was six-weeks-old. They raised her in North Carolina along with two sisters: Sarah and Rebekah. She has been married to her high-school sweetheart, James Mizer since 2007 and hopes to start a family soon.
From the moment she could pick up a pen, she has had a love affair with writing and creating. She was incredibly blessed to come from a family full of creative people and interesting characters. She writes stories of all lengths but the novel format is her favorite, delighting most in development of characters and their respective relationships. She enjoys reading classic, Gothic and some contemporary works.
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