A Secret Affair

At thirty-three Bill Fitzgerald, acclaimed American television foreign correspondent, is war weary and exhausted after a long stint in Bosnia. In late November of 1995 he travels to Venice to meet an old friend, Francis Xavier Peterson

While at the bar of the Gritti Palace Hotel on the Grand Canal with Frankie, Bill is struck by the dark beauty of a young woman seated alone, Unhappily married Vanessa Stewart is a twenty-seven-year-old glass designer from New York. The three expatriates decide that as Americans in Venice, they should celebrate Thanksgiving dinner together. That evening begins an illicit though fateful love affair.

When it is time to leave Venice, Bill plans a rendevous with Vanessa - they will meet in New York in December for a Christmas lunch with his daughter and mother. After an idyllic time spent together, they are both completely committed and madly in love. But they can only hope for a taste of joy from each other - a series of planned rendevous.

In A Secret Affair, Barbara Taylor once again touches on subjects that will stir the hearts and minds of her readers - unconditional love and devotion, loyalty, and loss.

In 1979, she wrote her first novel, A Woman of Substance, and that enduring bestseller was followed by 12 others: Voice of the Heart, Hold the Dream, Act of Will, To Be the Best, The Women in His Life, Remember, Angel, Everything to Gain, Dangerous to Know, Love in Another Town, Her Own Rules and A Secret Affair.

Of these titles, ten have been made into television miniseries or are currently in production. Her novels have sold more than 56 million copies worldwide in more than 88 countries and 38 languages. Barbara Taylor Bradford lives in New York City and Connecticut with her husband, film producer Robert Bradford.