Sapphire and Shadow

A Woman's Life Book 1

by Marie Ferrarella

Self Published

Contemporary Romance

May 13, 2014

ISBN-13: 007

Available in: e-Book (reprint)

Sapphire and Shadow
by Marie Ferrarella

USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author Marie Ferrarella is releasing her three hard-to-find women's contemporary novels written in the tradition of Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts and Debbie Macomber. Finally available again, these heart-tugging stories explore the tangled emotional lives of three women. Presenting the first, SAPPHIRE AND SHADOW.

"A look at the grit beneath the glitz and one woman's triumph over both" ---Nora Roberts

They could have had it all.

Johanna Whitney does seem to have it all---beauty, intelligence, talent, and a rich husband whose genius has created stunning films. What she is desperately trying to cover up is just how tragically that life is coming unraveled. Her husband's drug use, fueled by his fear of being unable to replicate his success, renders him incapable of showing her the love she once gave up everything for. Her closest friend is killed in a plane crash and even her daughter seems to prefer her husband's latest young lover to her own mother. The harder Johanna works at trying to patch the holes of her life, the more things come undone.

It all comes to a head on location in London. Johanna watches happiness slipping away and turns for comfort to a young British artisan. He tries to teach her to love herself again, and to dare to reach for happiness. Though he manages to awaken her emotions, her husband's drug arrest in Italy and her daughter's sudden illness make her realize she needs to go home---not to Los Angeles, but to New York.

Leaving all the wealth and influence she's been living with behind, she and her daughter feel like refugees as they search for a place to live and a way to make a living. Both needs are answered when they find shelter with an old friend and colleague in his art gallery. Johanna is back to her roots in the art world, but she's been gone a long time and she searches to find ways to heal and blossom. Even more difficult is the struggle to release her heart from the chains of fear and learn to love again.

Originally published September 1991 in mass market paperback for HarperCollins.

Show all >



Marie Ferrarella's Bio

Born in West Germany, arrived in the U.S. at four, I began writing when I was eleven. I began selling many years after that. Along the way, I acquired a Masters in Shakespearean Comedy from Queens College in N.Y, a husband and two kids (in that order)---the dog came later. My first romance was bought by Second Chance At Love November of 1981. The road from there to here has a hundred and thirty-seven more sales to it. I've been published by Silhouette, Harlequin, Zebra, Harper, Bantam and Berkeley. I've been fortunate enough to have received several Rita nominations from the Romance Writers of America Association over the years, with one win for Father Goose (in the Traditional Romance Category). I've also been nominated several times in various categories by Romantic Times Magazine. I hope to be found one day---many, many years from now---slumped over my computer, writing to the last moment. But before then, I would dearly love to write a successful screenplay. My goal has always been to entertain. Entertainment Weekly 2015 named me the fifth most prolific romance author of all time---and I have since moved up to the fourth position, having published 296 works.