Zibeline — Volume 2

In the glittering salons of Second Empire Paris, Valentine de Vermont, known to society as Zibeline, has a dangerous idea: use her fortune to actually help people. While the aristocracy debates the merits of charity over dinner parties, Zibeline quietly establishes an orphanage for the children of deceased laborers. The social elite watches with a mixture of admiration and outrage. A woman with money and opinions is always a scandal waiting to happen. As Zibeline's influence grows, so does the web of intrigue around her. The Duke Courts her favor, the General de Prerolles makes his intentions known, and the actress Eugenie Gontier becomes an unlikely focal point for everyone's jealousy. Love, reputation, and ambition collide in a world where a woman's public image is her most valuable currency, and her most vulnerable asset. This is volume two of a vanished novel, resurrected for modern readers who crave the pleasures of period drama: the whisper campaigns, the strategic glances, the thrill of a woman who refuses to play by society's rules even as she risks everything to keep playing.