Diane Shute is from Salinas, famous for its creative giants like John Steinbeck and Alfred Hitchcock. Her lifelong love of books was shaped by her father, inspiring her to write before she could read. Her passion for historical fiction led to her first published work, After Midnight. She currently resides in Salinas with her grandson and their family of rescued animals.

As far as Alix is concerned, she has no past—she only has today, and her plans for the future: raising a dynamic string of racehorses that will take the 1830s British racing world by storm by storm. Enter Lily, Alix’s estranged twin sister, spoiled, defiant and recently married for money and social status. As Alix is forced into a position that threatens to alter the course of her future, she begins to remember details about the mysterious events surrounding her father’s death when she was a child. When Alix seeks her uncle’s help, it sparks his dangerous return to France to reclaim the lives they left behind long ago.

When Quenton wants to take Alix home to France after years of exile in England, she is torn between the restoration of her fortune and her dream to build her Sterling Wood Stable into a successful racing business. She finds an unlikely friend in her uncle’s companion, Nicholas Griffon. Caught by her surprising fondness for him, Alix does not realize shadows from the past are stalking her—until she’s trapped by their darkness.