INTRIGUE. TENSION. LOVE AFFAIRS: In The Historical Romance series, a set of stand-alone novels, Vivian Stuart builds her compelling narratives around the dramatic lives of sea captains, nurses, surgeons, and members of the aristocracy. Stuart takes us back to the societies of the 20th century, drawing on her own experience of places across Australia, India, East Asia, and the Middle East. From the brooding Scottish highlands… A Gothic novel – of romance and terror. Kate was the bride-to-be of a Scottish lord... And what a lord, thought pretty, vivacious Kate. Allan MacAllander was tall, dark, filled with charm and good humor, the thirty-third in a line of fierce Scottish chieftains that stretched back for centuries. Kate loved this fascinating man who would soon be her husband, just as she loved the strange, dark, yet primitively beautiful land beside the sea which would be their home. But soon several incidents became a bit too strange. There was Nairne, Allan's handsome yet enigmatic cousin, whose kindness to Kate hid intentions at which she could only guess. There was Mairi, the servant girl, whose impertinence quickly turned to seething hostility. There was the mysterious child-woman who fled into the brush whenever Kate approached her. And above all, there was the whispered secret of the MacAllanders: a generations-old curse of insanity. Then tragedy struck close to Kate's heart, and she knew suddenly that a nameless, murderous hate now threatened her own life…