"A delightful romance"
Declan Fitzgerald has a thriving law practice and is
getting married in three weeks when he realizes he isn't
leading the life he wants to live. He ends the engagement,
calls off the wedding and moves to dilapidated Louisiana
mansion, Manet Hall. Not too long after he moves into his
new home, he meets Angelina and deeply falls into real love. The besotted Declan is determined to marry Lena and he
wages a one-man battle to wear down her formidable
resistance. Lena is fighting her attraction to Declan for
all she's worth because they are replaying the events that
happened a hundred years ago to the original owners of
Manet Hall, hopefully with happier results. Nora Roberts has written a beautiful romance centering
on a couple who have been reincarnated to fix what went
wrong in their previous life together. A haunted house,
complete with ghosts, seems genuine when placed in Ms.
Roberts' story line. The fast paced, action oriented plot
is heading for the best sellers lists as MIDNIGHT BAYOU
looks to be an award winner. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted September 13, 2001
Summary2001 RITA Finalist
The phenomenal #1 New York Times-bestselling author
presents a novel set deep in the bayou of Louisiana-where
the only witness to a long-ago tragedy is a once-grand house.
Declan Fitzgerald had always been the family maverick, but
even he couldn't understand his impulse to buy a dilapidated
mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans. All he knew was
that ever since he first saw Manet Hall, he'd been
enchanted-and obsessed-with it. So when the opportunity to
buy the house comes up, Declan jumps at the chance to live
out a dream.
Determined to restore Manet Hall to its former splendor,
Declan begins the daunting renovation room by room, relying
on his own labor and skills. But the days spent in total
isolation in the empty house take a toll. He is seeing
visions of days from a century past, and experiencing
sensations of terror and nearly unbearable grief-sensations
not his own, but those of a stranger. Local legend has it
that the house is haunted, and with every passing day
Declan's belief in the ghostly presence grows.
Only the companionship of alluring Angelina Simone can
distract him from the mysterious happenings in the house,
but Angelina too has her own surprising connection to Manet
Hall-a connection that will help Declan uncover a secret
that's been buried for a hundred years.
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