by Mary Beth Dearmon (Author)
Red Rose and the Second Son recounts the saga of two precocious youths, Philip Parr and Elizabeth "Bess" Stanley, drawn together in the flames of adversity during the early half of the eighteenth century. Philip, the grandson of a great English landowner, seeks his fortune in Williamsburg, Virginia, after a fierce quarrel divides his family. He is immediately smitten by fifteen-year-old Bess, the lovely, clever, and wistful daughter of a local attorney, whose life is forever changed by the rejection of a wealthy Virginia planter. Nursing a broken heart, she accompanies her brother to London, where she undergoes a dramatic transformation and descends into a glittering life of decadence and scandal. When at last she returns to Williamsburg, Bess must confront the wounds of her past as well as present dangers to her happiness, while Philip finally begins the arduous quest to win her love.
As prequel to Cadence to Glory, the critically acclaimed Revolutionary War novel, Red Rose and the Second Son weaves a sprawling tapestry of innocence, ambition, love, temptation, redemption, and the life-altering power of thwarted hopes.