A New York Times Bestseller! "I've loved every one of Susanna's books! She has bedrock research and a butterfly's delicate touch with characters―sure recipe for historical fiction that sucks you in and won't let go!"― DIANA GABALDON , #1 New York Times bestselling author of Outlander Beloved New York Times bestselling author Susanna Kearsley delivers a riveting novel that deftly intertwines the tales of two women, divided by centuries and forever changed by a clash of love and fate. For nearly three hundred years, the cryptic journal of Mary Dundas has kept its secrets. Now, amateur codebreaker Sara Thomas travels to Paris to crack the cipher. Jacobite exile Mary Dundas is filled with longing―for freedom, for adventure, for the family she lost. When fate opens the door, Mary dares to set her foot on a path far more surprising and dangerous than she ever could have dreamed. As Mary's gripping tale of rebellion and betrayal is revealed to her, Sara faces events in her own life that require letting go of everything she thought she knew―about herself, about loyalty, and especially about love. Though divided by centuries, these two women are united in a quest to discover the limits of trust and the unlikely coincidences of fate. Other bestselling books by Susanna Kearsley: The Winter Sea The Rose Garden The Firebird "Mary and Hugh’s ending is one of the most moving I’ve read this year… this journey is worth the ride." ― Dear Author, "Recommended Read" "Kearsley is an expert at seamlessly merging contemporary and historical fiction... The colorful history and romance of the 18th century, combined with the contemporary mystery, create a tale readers will savor." ― RT Book Reviews "Kearsley’s decision to offer a fully developed, romantic lead with the perspective of Asperger’s is a welcome and refreshing idea. Incorporating rich historical details that feel as vivid as the present enables readers to quickly lose sense of time as the author weaves threads from two eras into one dramatic tapestry." ― Library Journal "Susanna Kearsley deftly conjures both historical intrigue and a contemporary heroine as unique as she is memorable." ― Deanna Raybourn, New York Times bestselling author "A grand adventure…Susanna Kearsley just keeps getting better and better!" ― Lauren Willig, New York Times bestselling author "Fans of historical spy fiction will enjoy the dangers risked by Jacobite sympathizers, while Kearsley's gentle drama and accurate detail are sure to satisfy lovers of historical fiction and romance." ― Publishers Weekly New York Times , USA Today , and Globe and Mail bestselling author Susanna Kearsley is a former museum curator who loves restoring the lost voices of real people to the page, often in twin-stranded stories that interweave present and past. Her award-winning novels have been published in translation in more than 25 countries. She lives near Toronto. Chapter 1 My cousin didn't try to catch the bride's bouquet. She knew me well enough to know I wouldn't try to catch it, either. "Come keep me company," she said, and drew me firmly to one side of all the colorful commotion. "I need to sit." My father's wild Aunt Lucy, nearly lost in layered flounces of bronze taffeta, tried once to herd us back as we went past. "Oh, girls, you mustn't run away. Go on, get in there. Have a go." Smiling at my cousin, she said, "Third time lucky, Jacqueline, so they say. And Sara, dear," she added in a cheering tone, to me, "there's always hope." I might have pointed out there wasn't, really. Catching things had never been my strong suit, and it always seemed ridiculous to go through all that effort just to field a bunch of flowers that, while pretty, only showed which of the women at the wedding was the most determined to be married next, not which one would be. Jacqui didn't give me time to point out anything. She simply answered, "Yes, Aunt Lucy, thanks for that, but Sara isn't feeling well." And then she steered me off again. I looked at her. "I'm feeling fine." "I had to give her some excuse, or she'd have never let us be. You know the way she is. And I could hardly say I wasn't feeling well―she'd only think that I was pregnant." I had to admit that was true. Jacqui's love life―including her two short-lived marriages, one to a singer flamboyant enough to ensure their divorce had been given a place in the tabloids―was frequently a source of gossip at these family gatherings. She fueled that gossip on her own sometimes when she got bored, and had been known to start a rumor in one corner of the room to see how long it took to travel to another, but this evening she did not seem bored. I asked, because I couldn't see the man she'd come with, "Where did you leave Humphrey?" "Over there. He found the punch bowl, I'm afraid, before I had a chance to warn him. Drank three glasses of it." Uncle Gordon spiked the punch at every family wedding. No one knew with what, but even those of us who'd o