Fiona Hood-Stewart, Savannah Secrets

Savannah Secrets

Fiona Hood-Stewart

Mira, Mar 2005, $6.99, 448 pp.

ISBN: 0778321533

In Savannah, ninety-three-year-old Rowena Carstairs dies regretting that she never believed her daughter Isabel when she insisted she was raped by a family friend as a teen. Isabel went to Europe to give up her baby. Years later, married with a preadolescent daughter Dallas, Isabel was unable to deal with her pain and nightmare and committed suicide, pleading with her mom to see that she will be avenged.

Attorney Meredith Hunter is stunned when the will announces that Rowena's unheard of grandson, corporate raider James Grant Gallagher, will inherit everything; if he refuses, the $100 million plus estate will go literally to the dogs. Rowena's extended family is irate while Grant's half-sister Dallas does not care except for needing money to save her horse breeding ranch. As Meredith tries to persuade Grant to do the right thing with the bequest that he does not want, he finally accepts because he is attracted to the widow with two preadolescent sons. However, he also feels Rowena is manipulating him, but trying to figure out what she wants seems impossible.

This character-driven, contemporary tale contains a diverse, solid cast in which readers can easily distinguish the different players who bring plenty to the plot. The storyline grips the audience from the moment that Grant rejects Meredith's plea and never lets up until a Senate confirmation hearing. Meredith is a terrific protagonist as she struggles with understanding Rowena's will and the reaction of the presumptive heir to learning who his biological family is. Fiona Hood-Stewart provides a fine novel in which a recently decreased matriarch manipulates everyone from the grave in a last ditch Hail Mary pass to see justice is done for her daughter.

Harriet Klausner