A Heritage of Shadows (1983)

It is 1890 and Hannah McLeod, an eighteen year old English girl, living in Paris rescues a stranger, Andrew Doyle, from attack by Montmartre apaches, and unwittingly becomes entangled in circumstances that force her to flee from France to England and take up the mysterious offer she had received to become French tutor in the household of a Mr. Sebastian Ryder. But why should Mr. Ryder want to employ her? Does he know something about her of which she is unaware? Are there still more secrets in her past? As the tale unfolds, carrying her from England to Mexico and back again to Paris, Hannah finds herself caught up in a vicious struggle between two men of great wealth and power—a struggle which threatens her life—before the final discovery of where her happiness lies. Madeleine Brent, the bestselling author of six previous novels, has one again written a story packed with drama and suspense. It vividly recreates the atmosphere of the 1890s, exposing the darker and more sinister elements that lurked below the surface of that outwardly respectable era.