One enemy spy knows the secret of the Allies' greatest deception, a brilliant aristocrat and ruthless assassin--code name: "The Needle"--who holds the key to the ultimate Nazi victory. Only one person stands in his way: a lonely English woman on an isolated island, who is coming to love the killer who has mysteriously entered her life.

A story of friendship set in nineteenth-century China follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language.

The story of the couple's youthful passion and ambition interwoven with a portrait of a marriage, thirty-plus years later, a lifetime's shared compromises, secrets, betrayals, and mutual love.

"1860: As the clash between the states rolls slowly to a boil, Elizabeth Packard, housewife and mother of six, is facing her own battle. The enemy sits across the table and sleeps in the next room. Threatened by Elizabeth's intellect, independence, and outspokenness, her husband of twenty-one years is plotting against her and makes a plan to put her back in her place. One summer morning, he has her committed to an insane asylum. The horrific conditions...