Ben and Alysia are the
current incarnations of soul mates cursed, in a previous life, to be
separated by a gulf of years and social norms until they fully
accept their love, share a lifetime, and raise a child together. The
book follows them through some of their incarnations and shows how
the spirit that now inhabits Dorry, Alysia’s college girlfriend, who
was the originator of the curse in a previous incarnation, has
hounded them through life after life.
The story plays out in the
current day and with the characters experiencing their past lives as
Albert, Bernidine and Darius in the fifteen hundreds. Duke Darius
forces Bernidine, a woman half his age who is already pledged to wed
her true love, Sir Albert, to marry him. When Albert infiltrates
Darius’ court, and has an affair with his beloved Bernadine, Darius
forces a reluctant witch to cast the curse that he feels will keep
the young lovers apart forever. Unable to directly oppose Darius,
because of what he will do to her coven mates if she does, the witch
works a clause into the spell that if Albert and Bernadine live a
life and raise a child together, the curse will be broken. Albert
kills Darius in single combat but is mortally wounded leaving the
curse to stand for another life.
Next, Ben and Alysia recall
a life where they are Abigail and Bernia, well to do, Sapphic
lovers, who are persecuted by Donald, Abigail’s dead-husband’s
brother, in the England of 1775. Abigail sits as steward over her
dead husband’s estates for her son, Samuel, whom Donald wishes dead
so the succession will fall to himself. Samuel accepts his mother’s
choice in bed mates and offers to impregnate Bernia when she and
Abigail wish to have a child together. When Abigail learns that
Donald murdered her husband she confronts him and the tragic cycle
repeats itself.
The story continues through
the lives of Ada, an emancipated slave, and Bailey, a maverick
physician, in the American west of 1876, who are hounded by the
local tough, Diego. In addition to Diego’s obsession with Ada, whose
family were slaves on Diego’s grandfather’s plantation, Bailey and
Ada must face the bigotry of their time and Bailey’s concern about
their age difference. In the end Ada and Bailey are set to end the
curse when Diego murders Ada on her wedding day.
Throughout the book, the
story of Ben and Andrea, Alysia’s last incarnation, where she was
the older woman and Ben the younger man, is spun out as the catalyst
that forces the lovers to recall their lives together. Will Alysia
and Ben accept the love they feel? Will Dorry relinquish her
centuries old quest for vengeance? Will love prevail, or will the
cycle of tragedy death and despair repeat itself? Read on.
