Her Mother's Secret
1837
In 1837, Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth, the most widely read American author of her era, delivered a propulsive tale of love, deception, and buried family shame. Odalite Force has loved Leonidas since childhood, but her mother Elfrida coldly insists she abandon him for a more "advantageous" match: the older Colonel Angus Anglesea, a man whose past carries disturbing secrets. What Odalite doesn't know, and what her mother will go to desperate lengths to conceal, explains everything. The novel opens with Odalite pleading at her mother's feet, desperate to understand why Elfrida would destroy her happiness. The answer lies in blood, guilt, and a transgression that stretches back years. As the wedding looms, Odalite must choose between duty to her mother's secrets and the demands of her own heart. Southworth, whose novel The Hidden Hand made her a national sensation, weaves Gothic suspense through her domestic drama, building toward revelations that reshape everything we thought we knew about this family.
