Zoe Book

Zoé, is a young woman blossoming in 17th Century France under the protective umbrella of her wealthy and well respected French aristocratic father. However, she remains an outcast due too the African blood mixing with her French, coursing through her veins. That is until she meets a Nobleman who won?t be denied, and is willing to risk it all to have her. Beautiful Zoé Bouchard, born into a life of privilege, knows little of the world outside of her small village of Narbonne, France. The product of a forbidden affair between her father and his African mistress, Zoé wants only one thing: to maintain the love and adoration he showers upon her and her half-sister Marianne. However, Zoé?s stepmother, jealous of those affections, has long resented having to raise a mulatto alongside her own daughter in French society. At sixteen, and the younger by two years, Marianne has reached the age to marry, and must be wed first. Though Zoé fears life under her stepmother?s tyranny without her sister, and knows she has few options for a marriage of her own, she embarks, supportively, on what she believes to be a new beginning in their lives. Thus the girls are ushered from their village and presented to the mysterious, philandering Comte Julien La Roque de Toulouse. The Count immediately takes a shine to the tawny brown demoiselle who stands in her fair sister?s shadow. Discovering her love for poetry and preying upon her naïveté, he lures Zoé to his chamber with the promise of friendship and the exchange of poems. Soon Zoé is seduced by a surprising glimpse of the man behind the title. She finds herself deep in a passionate liaison, one that is well beyond her youthful understanding. Desperate to cover her foolish lapse in judgment, Zoé races against time to keep the affair a secret. But when the truth is discovered by her cruel stepmother, Zoé?s hopes of rescue by her father cannot be realized, and she is forced into a bitter bargain. She must secure her sister?s bethrothal by offering herself to the Count as a consolation prize. Zoé?s attempts to return the attentions of the Count to Marianne are thwarted by a visiting American slave owner, who also discovers the illicit affair. And worse, his interference brings about the sudden death of Zoé?s father, who suffers a heart attack over his daughter?s betrayal. Despite everything, Zoé believes in the Count?s feelings for her and begs him to legitimize their union. But fear, prejudice and cowardice prevent him from doing so. The day her beloved father is buried, she is sold to the American slave trader and forced into a life of certain misfortune. Her only salvation is to trust the one person who has created the labyrinth of betrayal and tragedy she cannot seem to escape. Zoé takes the reader beyond color and shares the true nature of humanity and passion in a page-turning tale that will keep you reading?and believing that true love knows no bounds. A Cinderella fairytale for all time, Zoé takes the reader beyond color and shares the true nature of humanity and passion in a page-turning tale that will keep you reading?and believing that true love knows no bounds.Read More