Ellie Homans, artist and wife of a prominent surgeon, lives in sumptuous luxury in a Boston suburb. Senator Alexander Lindsay, of Bostonian aristocracy, is vital, handsome, and politically powerful. But privilege has shielded neither from loveless marriages. Together they find a passionate commitment that submerges their mutual devotion to fidelity and personal integrity. The discovery of their affair leads Ellie s husband to devise a life-threatening method to imprison his wife in her unwanted marriage. He unwittingly passes his vendetta to his daughter, whose fury brings mother and daughter to the brink of disaster. Ellie s escape from innocence to costly awareness leads her to the realization that love, no matter how mature, can have a dreadful price. A woman finally discovers what she wants and what it costs. Ellie Homans keeps a running tally of "shoulds" in her mind, a list of her failures as the wife of an eminent surgeon from one of Boston's first families and mother to a son following in his father's footsteps and a daughter who hates her. The list is a catalog of battles she's lost over the years, from the decoration of the house to where her daughter Annie should go to college. Curtis (Song for a Lifetime, 1999) unfolds this romantic drama set among the New England aristocracy with an assured hand. Rich, engaging characters demonstrate that love often comes at a high price. -Kirkus Discoveries"