[Landry 04] • Tel Un Joyau Cache

_Hidden Jewel_ is the fourth thrilling novel in the V.C. Andrews Landry

series. Following _All That Glitters,_ the spellbinding story of Ruby Landry's

daring struggle to find a happy life with Beau Andreas and to protect their

precious daughter. Sheltered from sorrow, innocent young Pearl thrives in the

sunshine of a loving home...except for the haunting nightmares of her earliest

years, and the dark family secrets she worries will one day shadow her

destiny....

Raised in a New Orleans mansion filled with kindness and laughter, Pearl

dreams of becoming a doctor. With all the finest families wishing her well,

her high school graduation party is almost as festive as Mardi Gras itself.

But still, she fears that she will never know the essence of romantic passion,

or her family's buried secrets. Yet her summer job in an elegant old hospital

is fascinating...and an experienced intern is eager to share his friendship

with her.

But the sultry Louisiana heat cannot dispel her family's sinful legacy, the

snakelike treachery of a man who threatens Pearl's innocence, or an awful

portent of disaster. After a cruel accident befalls one of Pearl's twin

brothers, the bayou that seized him beckons to Ruby who flees, tormented, back

to her Cajun roots. Pearl's faith in her mother abides, but she cannot hold

back her tears when her other brother falls deathly ill, and her father

retreats into his own bourbon-soaked world.

Pearl's dreams of success swirl away with the hurricane winds, and she

journeys to the swamps in search of her mother and the shocking truths of her

heritage. In the warm embrace of a gentle Cajun man, she discovers a blessed

refuge. But, until the storm clouds clear, Pearl cannot savor the springtime

sweetness that always, always seems beyond tomorrow....