Lady Novella Crownley has been teaching at a girl's school far from her ancestral home, Crownley Hall, and one day her mother asks her to return. She leaves at once only to find that so much has changed since her last visit home. Her beloved father, the Earl of Crownley, had died some years earlier, leaving her mother lonely and unable to cope on her own. Unknown to Novella her mother had remarried and the first time she met her new stepfather, Lord Buckton, she did like him at all. In her absence Lord Buckton had been selling off everything at the Hall he could lay his hands on to pay for his debts and lavish lifestyle, and even had plans to sell the house and the estate as well. To her horror Novella found that he had sold her favourite horse, Salamander, to a near neighbour, Sir Edward Moreton. She was deeply suspicious of the charming and handsome Sir Edward, but her heart softened when he invited her to ride Salamander again.Her mother became seriously ill and Novella was forced to clash with her stepfather over the cost of medical care for her.Her relationship with her stepfather became worse while her feelings for Sir Edward began to intensify. She came to realise that she was in great danger from her stepfather whowas determined to take everything from her and her mother at any cost.How Novella was able to defeat the forces ranged against her with the help of Sir Edward and find her own true love is told in this exciting and dramatic romance by Barbara Cartland. Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages. As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world. She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone's life.