by Charlotte Vale-Allen

Mattie Sylvester, widow of one of America's most celebrated painters, spends most of her time gazing out to sea on an island off the Atlantic Coast, reviewing her past, and remembering.

Her new secretary, Sarah Kidd, is fascinated by the eccentric household and its mistress--the elegant, feisty and brooding Mattie. Slowly an unlikely bond forms between the two women as Mattie talks about the past--her early life, her circle of artist friends in the 1920's, her handsome, charming, sexual wizard of a husband, and their sons--but Sarah is shocked as the remembrances give way to a simmering rage.

As they talk through the nights, Sarah learns the truth about Gideon Sylvester and the incredible enormity of the crime he committed against his wife.