Alathea

By Pamela Belle

Do you follow your head or your heart…?

Before Alathea Heron became a famous portrait artist, she was just a girl. Before John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, became the famous rake and scoundrel, he was just a boy.

When the Earl was just eleven years old he met Alathea and the two of them would change each other’s lives forever. When they finally find each other again, their meeting ignites a spark within them both, turning Alathea into a figure of scorn and intrigue. John immediately tries to win her heart, but Alathea cannot bring herself to succumb to his advances. Alathea’s only love is painting and she knows that if she loves anyone or anything else, she will lose it forever.

It seems an impossible choice – the two great loves of her life that cannot reconcile. In the end, it’s a choice she must make between the magic of her art and the temptations of love. But can she live without either one of them?

Pamela Belle was born and bred in Suffolk, the daughter of a local prep, school headmaster. She went to the University of Sussex, and has now given up her teaching post to write full time. Alathea, the heroine of Pamela Belle’s third novel, also featured in the author’s first two books, The Moon in the Water and The Chains of Fate.