The Devil's Shadow

The Devil's Shadow is a novel by romance writer Sally Wentworth that depicts the struggle between two sisters over a period of several years.

Synopsis

Charlotte Page ran into Craig Bishop at the Sandowne Races. She'd never forgotten him, ever since her sister first brought him home to the Abbey six years ago.

It had been love at first sight. Not that he was interested in her,with her glamorous sister Verity to hold his attentions.

Charlotte was no longer a teenage tomboy. She'd grown into a beautiful and sophisticated woman whom Craig could love. They develop a strong relationship aided by things that they have in common. However, her father unexpectedly dies and she has to call back Verity in order to deal with the inheritance.

Verity does come back but now she sees them together she tells her sister she will have her vengeance because Charlotte had caused her split from Craig. In the mean time, the two sisters have to decide what to do with the estate that was to big and expensive to manage. Eventually Charlotte admits it and agrees to have it split into smaller apartments.

One night, Verity implies that she had been intimate enough with Craig which he strongly denies. Charlotte feels hurt and decides to leave him. The following morning he discovers a mutual friend in her apartment and draws the conclusion that they had slept together in spite of the fact that Charlotte denies it.

The next day Charlotte forces him to meet her and explains everything.

Characters

Charlotte is a very typical romance character. She is evolving from the ugly duckling to the love interest in the novel quite quickly. However, she lacks credibility especially in some of the key scenes in the plot (mainly the one in which she causes he sister's split from Craig).

Craig is far from the alpha-type but he is still strong enough to be admired by seemingly all females in the novel.

Verity is the stereotype nemesis of the protagonist but the author does not give enough clues about her, except the poor relationship with her father and sister.

Translations

The novel has been translated into Romanian by Cezar Niculescu at Alcris Publishing House under the title Dragoste cu umbre (1994).