Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0316076228, Hardcover)

Divorced three times and recently widowed by her fourth husband, Hannie Bennet is an unapologetic professional wife, marrying for financial security instead of love. When she meets Ned Renvyle, writer and world traveler, Hannie believes she's found a suitable new mate: he's in search of a wife and companion as he settles into his twilight years on a farm in the Irish countryside where he was raised.

But what at first seemed to Hannie like a convenient union quickly becomes a personal prison. Her unflinching cool and lack of sentiment alienate her from Ned and the townspeople, and when her troubled teenage son comes to visit, she must maintain a deception so potent it threatens the entire community. Soon, Hannie finds herself in a maelstrom of blackmail, deceit, and violence, forced to make the most impossible choice a mother can confront.