Illusions of Love — Cynthia Freeman

Romantic fiction: They had parted years before in despair and anger, lovers sacrificed to a star-crossed destiny. Now she was back in his life--threatening his marriage, his family, his heritage.

Sweeping from lavish San Francisco mansions to the devastated villages of war-torn Italy to the swank clubs and glittering thoroughfares of postwar Manhattan to today, Illusions of Love is the unforgettable story of a romantic triangle that spans a quarter of a century.

Martin--Sole heir to a powerful and affluent dynasty, he is spiritually rent between desire and duty in an inner struggle that will shadow every moment in his life.

Jenny--A warm and adoring lover, but a woman from another world than Martin's, the alien world of an alien faith from which not even love has strength to build the bridge.

Sylvia--In love with Martin since childhood and handpicked by his family to be his wife, she is tortured by the knowledge that she is the woman in her husband's life--but not the woman in his dreams.

When Martin and Jenny meet again by chance, they find their passion undiminished by the years. It is as if they are again young and crazy about each other--in New York, laughing and partying and making love without responsibilities or regrets. But when the thrill of rediscovery subsides, and they find themselves again confronting the same impossible choice, they know--as Sylvia knows--that this time the choice must stand forever.

As readers of Cynthia Freeman's previous bestsellers--novels as celebrated as A World Full of Strangers, Portraits, Come Pour the Wine, and No Time for Tears--will attest, the ability to move the heart and ignite the imagination are unparalleled. In Illusions of Love she has again delivered a work of astonishing emotional power and stirring human drama.