Double Shadow — Frances Adrian

In 1790, a loved white house stood beside the sea in the soft country beyond Bristol, isolated shelter for the contented and self-sufficient life of Winifred Culkin alone with her father. Only he expected his sudden death; leaving a last tender letter instructing her to follow exactly the bidding of his young lawyer, George Cave, who would know all her plans for the future. The plans, which she insisted on following, took her mysteriously to the high heat of Andalucia; to a great casa on the lip of a gorge, belonging to the enigmatic Don Isidro and his gentle senora Fidelia, where she was to teach their two protected little girls. She had no understanding of why she was sent there; all she accepted was that her dead father would only want her happiness. How could he have envisaged the threat and terror that was to engulf her even before she reached the house? How could he know of the two men who would both attract her; and both cast their shadow on her life? How could he foresee who in the end would bring her to happiness and safety? This book is written from a close experience of Andalucia; the sun and shadow; the harshness and gentleness at once of land and customs and people. Substantially unchanged in many ways since Winifred rocked down the dusty road to Ronda.