The Black Gale

Wherefore I said: "Master, who are those whom the black gale so drives!" —Dante: Inferno, Canto V
Jacklin Baron, an artist of great talent, temperament, and beauty, marries an older man of character and refinement never suspecting that the real love of her life, restless and hungry as the sea, would appear on a trip to Paris and awaken her heart, challenging the path she's chosen and changing her life forever. Published in 1929, this early romance written by renown biographer and novelist, Samuel Shellabarger, is dark and sinuous, gradually capturing the attention of the reader as the story unfolds with depth and frankness. Some modern readers may find the plot maudlin and the book as a whole labored with expository unusual in Shellabarger's later historical romances, but, nevertheless, his gift for great story telling shines through.