Winter of the Heart — Linda J. Larosa

She fled a secret terror to pursue a secret dream. It began as a magical love story of champagne and candlelight, of passion and romance in a marble palace. But when the aristocratic Julienne married Franz, she had no foreboding of his legacy, the dark secret violence hidden in his ancestral halls.

With a treasure of jewels stitched to her petticoat and her children by her side, she dared to flee her husband's shameful abuse -- and leave the glittering privileges of wealth and position forever. From Vienna to Paris, as the flames of war swept across Europe, through the horrors of plague and privation, she fought for her children and a fragile new love -- one that would have to face the tortured past if it were to survive the Winter of the Heart.