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Meet the Saving Graces, four of the best friends a woman could ever have. "

For ten years, Emma, Rudy, Lee, and Isabel have shared a deep affection that has helped them deal with the ebb and flow of expectations and disappointments common to us all. Calling themselves the Saving Graces, the quartet is united by understanding, honesty, and acceptance -- a connection that has grown stronger as the years go by.

Though these sisters of the heart and soul have seen it all, talked through it all, they are not prepared for the crisis of astounding proportions that will put their love and courage to the ultimate test.

Settle in for five startling tales of uncanny suspense and disquieting romance-including an In Death story featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas from #1 New York Times bestselling author J. D. Robb. Eve and Rourke return to investigate the murders of a series of luckless indigents-and the strange connection to a brilliant young surgeon in J. D. Robb's "Chaos in Death." In Mary Blayney's "Her Greatest Pleasure," a shopkeeper's solitude is complicated by a magic coin, a daring rogue, and dreams of her late husband, who whispers but one word...wish. A lonely woman and a hotline psychic turn their astonishing connection to the other side into an unexpected romance in Patricia Gaffney's "Dear One." The shattered soul of an angry spirit imprisoned in a Scottish manor house could be a young widow's only salvation in Ruth Ryan Langan's "The Unforgiven." And in Mary Kay McComas's "His Brother's Keeper," a young ghost eases his brother's pain and guilt by inviting him into the dreams of an imaginative author of children's books.

J.D. Robb's "Missing in Death" investigates a female tourist's disappearance during a ferry ride. Detective Eve Dallas wonders...if she didn't jump, and she's not on board, then where in the world is she?
In Patricia Gaffney's "The Dog Days of Laurie Summer," a woman awakens to a familiar yet unsettling world.
In Mary Blayney's "Lost in Paradise," a man locked in an island fortress finds hope for freedom in an enigmatic nurse.
And Ruth Ryan Langan's "Legacy" belongs to a young woman who unearths a family secret buried on the grounds of a magnificent but imposing Irish castle.

Can grief last for a person's whole life? That is the question that haunts Carrie as she mourns the sudden death of her husband, and the much earlier death of their love. Carrie's overbearing mother, Dana, also silently mourns a painful loss: the disintegration of her relationship with her daughter. At the end point of their two generations, Ruth--Carrie's precocious child on the brink of womanhood--struggles with the loss of her father and the emotional abandonment of her mother. Still, she is eager to discover who she is and what life holds, even if that knowledge draws her away from the people she loves.

Through the stories of three unforgettable women, "New York Times" bestseller Patricia Gaffney explores the despair and hope, misunderstanding and compassion, anger and love that can divide a family . . . yet ultimately binds it together.

From New York Times bestselling author patricia gaffney comes an unforgettable novel about daring to love, braving a loss, and setting yourself free.

For thirty-two-year-old Caddie Winger, one summer makes the whole world look different. Jolted from her comfy, self-made nest and forced to see the world with new eyes, Caddie begins to take charge of her future--finding a new best friend, taking risks she never dreamed she could, and navigating the depths and shallows of true love and crushing heartbreak. And in the course of one extraordinary season, Caddie Winger will learn how to trust other people...and, ultimately, how to trust herself.

Anna has studiously avoided her Aunt Rose--the woman she once loved more than anyone else in the world--ever since the night Rose betrayed Anna and her mother, Rose's own fatally ill sister. In the sixteen years that have passed, Anna has built another life for herself far from her hometown on Maryland's eastern shore, but she can't forgive or forget.

Now another betrayal, by a faithless lover, has brought Anna back to her family's restaurant, where Rose needs her estranged niece's help--and trust--more than ever before. Determined to leave as soon as the struggling business is back on its feet and her own hurt is healed, Anna joins Rose in the kitchen of the Bella Sorella, resolved to remain unaffected by Rose's longing to undo the past. But Anna's resistance could blind her to a true and unexpected love that's reaching out to grab her by the heart.

"New York Times" bestselling author patricia gaffney's "Flight Lessons" is a poignant, funny, and wise story of truth, loyalty, and the bonds that shape, sustain, and ultimately uplift us.

Few authors can capture with such grace and power the spirit and strength of women and the complexities of their relationships as Patricia Gaffney. Her sensational national bestseller, The Saving Graces, won the hearts of readers everywhere and propelled her into the first ranks of contemporary women writers with its vivid characterizations and brilliant depiction of the delicate yet resilient bonds of female friendship.

Now this gifted writer turns inward to illuminate the silken bonds of family in Circle of Three. Through the interconnected lives of three generations of women in a small town in rural Virginia, this poignant, memorable novel reveals the layers of tradition and responsibility, commitment and passion these women share.

"Can grief last for a person's whole life?" That is the question Carrie struggles to answer after the sudden death of her husband. For Carrie, grief and guilt are twofold: Though she mourns her husband, she also mourns the death of their love-an emotional erosion that occurred long before her husband's heart gave out. Struggling to go on, to support her vivacious, loving fifteen-year-old daughter, Carrie slowly shakes off the sorrow and depression that embrace her and begins a new life.

Complicating matters is Carrie's mother, Dana, an industrious, snobbish, yet sympathetic woman who tries to do what's best for herself and, unfortunately, for Carrie as well. It was fear of her mother's disapproval that drove Carrie away from her unforgotten first love, the soulful, passionate Jess, who has now re-entered her life.

Little does Carrie realize that her mother suffers miseries of her own. For Dana life is still as mysterious as it was in early youth. Like her only daughter, Dana has lived within the confines of a silent marriage, and she, too, mourns a painful loss-the disintegration of her relationship with Carrie. "I'd give anything for the closeness we used to have. I love my daughter more than anyone else on this earth, but she won't let me in."

At the end point of these two generations is Ruth, who silently copes with a double tragedy of her own, the loss of what she can never know-a real relationship with her father-and the emotional abandonment of her mother. "She's still got me, but she's about half the mother I used to have. When Dad died I lost him and part of her. I'm almost an orphan." A precocious girl quivering on the brink of womanhood, she is eager to discover who she is and what life holds, even if that knowledge will draw her away from the people she loves.

Through their stories, Patricia Gaffney explores the dichotomies inherent in all women's relationships-the tears and laughter, despair and hope, misunderstanding and compassion, anger and love-that sometimes divide them yet ultimately bind them together. Wise, moving, and heartbreakingly real, Circle of Three offers women of all ages a deeper understanding of each other, of themselves, and of the perplexing and invigorating magic that is life itself.