Columbella

A governess becomes entangled with a dysfunctional and dangerous family in this novel by a New York Times-bestselling "master of suspense" (Mary Higgins Clark).

Finally liberated from her cruel and domineering mother, twenty-eight-year-old schoolteacher Jessica Abbott has accepted a position as governess in Hampden House, a crumbling plantation on the cliffs of St. Croix. Her charge is Leila Drew, the oppressed teenage daughter of a pathologically punishing mother. But the vulnerable girl is not Catherine Drew's only victim.

For years, Catherine's desperate husband, King, a man to whom Jessica is irresistibly drawn, has been searching for the means to a safe escape--for himself and Leila--from this ruin of a family. As Jessica becomes further entwined in the violent dynamics of the Drew family, she realizes Catherine's wretched power may be grounded in a secret that has trapped not only King and Leila, but herself as well.

A recipient of the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, Phyllis A. Whitney was hailed by Mary Higgins Clark as "a superb and gifted story teller, and a master of suspense."



About the Author
Born in Yokohama, Japan, on September 9, 1903, Phyllis A. Whitney was a prolific author of award-winning adult and children's fiction. Her sixty-year writing career and the publication of seventy-six books, which together sold over fifty million copies worldwide, established her as one of the most successful mystery and romantic suspense writers of the twentieth century and earned her the title "The Queen of the American Gothics."

Whitney resided in several places, including New Jersey. She traveled to every location mentioned in her books in order to better depict the settings of her stories. She earned the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master award in 1988, the Agatha in 1990, and the lifetime achievement award from the Society of Midland Authors in 1995. Whitney was working on her autobiography at the time of her passing at the age of 104.