A Forbidden heart cries night and day. A Forbidden Heart yearns for truth and justice. A Forbidden Heart longs for the love of a family it has never known, yet has sought relentlessly. A Forbidden Heart seeks freedom.

A bitter cold January night, full moon and the towering snowcapped peak of Mt. St. Helens looked like a Norman Rockwell painting. Looks can be deceiving. Spiraling winds surged forth from the apex of the mountain penetrating a fortress of evergreens surrounding the base of the sleeping giant.

A young girl's cry splintered the silence. Amid the darkness a black sedan sped down a winding dirt road. Her cry would go unnoticed almost forty years. Unimaginable evil had been unleashed in a small shack nestled deep in the forest. From Woodland, Washington to Jackson, Mississippi foundations would crumble.

Shirley Allen was a woman living on death row, convicted of murder. With only 30 days before her execution, she wrote her story with the hope someone would see that she too was a victim. Her crime? Wanting what was hers. Shirley always prayed for God to guide her path. How did it lead to death row? Had God turned his face from her? Would He now grant hope and justice to a convicted murderer?

Abbey Newton was the personal assistant to Governor Tyler Chadwick. She became involved with Shirley, when the Governor requested her to hire a private investigator to probe into the life of the woman whose life was now in his hands. After all, he wanted a clear conscious when he denied her stay of execution.

Wilma Styles lives in western North Carolina with her husband Ray. They have two daughters, Sandra and Deborah, and three wonderful grandchildren Tina, Jacob and Kaylee. Wilma has been the keynote speaker at women's conferences in Virginia, North and South Carolina. Her teaching, speaking, and singing ministry brings the voice and heart that has brought healing and inspiration to the congregations that she has ministered to. She anxiously awaits her release of the next novel Joy on the Mountain. To God is the glory!