Burning Marguerite (Paperback, New edition)

When James Jack finds his ninety-four-year-old 'Tante', Marguerite Deo, lying dead outside his cabin, he is forced to confront the mystery of her death. An unexpected tale unfolds, moving in backward glances from the present to a windswept New England island at the turn of the century, and to New Orleans during the Depression and World War II. At the heart of the story are a forbidden love, a violent crime kept secret for years, and above all, Marguerite's relationship with a little boy, James Jack, whom she adopts after his parents' death in a terrible accident on the frozen lake. This is a novel that captivates from the very first moment.