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The premise of Lynne Pemberton’s fifth novel Did Monroe and Kennedy have a child?Kate O’Sulliavan has only known the harsh regime of an Irish orphanage. Beautiful, wilful and uncowed by the cruelty of the nuns, she falls passionately in love with a handsome young priest. Father Declan Steele struggles to resist Kate’s overpowering sexuality and the tension between fairth and flesh reaches breaking point.She runs away to Dublin and comes under the protective wing of a cultured older man, Brenden Fitzgerald, who helps her build a dazzling international career as an artist. She trades her consuming passion for Declan for the security of marriage to fatherly Brneden but temptation is too much for the orphan and the priest.In the turmoil, tragedy and scandal that follow, Kate’s notoriety raises ghosts from her past. Suddenly she is swept along in a search for her true identity – a search that takes her back in time, to an illicit love ad the long-buried secret of a movie goddess and a White House legend.
A young woman raised in an Irish orphanage discovers that her search for identity may be linked to a clandestine affair between a Hollywood icon and a political legend. Kate O’Sullivan, defined by her rebellious spirit and beauty, navigates a volatile path from a restrictive religious upbringing to a high-profile life as an artist. Her internal conflict centers on a forbidden attraction to a priest, which persists even as she seeks stability through a marriage to an older mentor. As scandal and tragedy erupt, Kate is forced to confront the truth of her origins, unraveling a mystery that spans decades and continents. The narrative follows her transformation as she attempts to reconcile her past with the public scrutiny of her present.
This novel presents a narrative that leans heavily into the tropes of historical melodrama and the allure of celebrity-adjacent mysteries. The premise suggests a focus on the emotional volatility of its protagonist as she navigates the consequences of her past and her forbidden desires. Readers likely encounter a story that prioritizes the clash between personal morality and the weight of institutional secrets. The work appears to function as a character-driven drama that uses the backdrop of mid-century icons to heighten the stakes of its central mystery.
Page Count:
432
Publication Date:
2000-01-01
Publisher:
HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN-10:
000651328X
ISBN-13:
9780006513285
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