The Gathering Storm (Paperback)

On an early spring day in 1911, the life of 17-year-old Evelyn alters drastically after the death of her mother, the only family member she had ever known. Evelyn is whisked away to spend the summer at Crofton Castle, the home of the Ashcrofts, her deceased father's brother and his family. The Ashcrofts are one of the wealthiest families in America, but their grand estate is brimming with hostility and deception and is as far from a home as Evelyn can imagine. Her aunt is a reclusive alcoholic, her uncle is oddly and perpetually absent, and Evelyn is left to befriend her three cousins. Ervin, a young man her age, is the first to reach out in friendship, but his wild ways may lead Evelyn down the wrong path. Her older cousins, Harry and Arthur, who were adopted into the family after tragic events, are bitter rivals who eventually make Evelyn their new conquest. The tempests outside may ravage the castle grounds, but it is the stormy relationships Evelyn forms with the Ashcrofts that will forever change the landscape of her heart.