Terra Feliz: Vanity

Terra Feliz is a historical novel set in England and North America in the 1820s. Madeleine Pelletier, A lonely, nineteenyear- old orphan, yearning for love and a family, is urged by her aunt to marry fortyyear- old widower, Richard Leighton, owner of Leighton Trading Ltd. The company’s shipping post is on the island of Terra Feliz, off the coast of North America. Instead of the comfort of a family, Madeleine is thrown into conflict with Richard’s two young daughters, and with the housekeeper of Briarhill, Richard’s Palladian mansion. On Terra Feliz, she falls in love with Captain John Neuton, a young, wealthy English gentleman, who has exiled himself on the island as a result of a family matter. They do not declare their love at the time because of her marriage. Captain Barton Rogers, a brash, cruel, and ambitious man, is stealing cargo and selling it for his own purse. He becomes enamored with Madeleine. Hatred smolders in the breast of minister, Ben Hull. He resents Leighton’s people, the taverns, drinking, and fornication on the island. He and his Followers believe in trial by ordeal. Self-centered Nancy Bascom is the catalyst for the trouble Madeleine finds on the island.