A Secret Affair

The inimitable Barbara Taylor Bradford has once again created an intimate and unforgettable story, A Secret Affair.At thirty-three, Bill Fitzgerald, acclaimed American television foreign correspondent, is war-weary and exhausted after a long stint in Bosnia. In late November of 1995, he travels to Venice to meet an old friend, Francis Xavier Peterson.While at the bar of the Gritti Palace Hotel on the Grand Canal with Frankie, Bill is struck by the dark beauty of a young woman seated alone. Unhappily married Vanessa Stewart is a twenty-seven-year-old glass designer from New York. The three expatriates decide that as Americans in Venice, they should celebrate Thanksgiving dinner together. That evening begins an illicit though fateful love affair.When it is time to leave Venice, Bill plans a rendezvous with Vanessa -- they will meet in New York in December for a Christmas lunch with his daughter and mother. After an idyllic time spent together, they are both completely committed and madly in love. But they can only hope for a taste of joy from each other -- a series of planned rendezvous.In A Secret Affair, Barbara Taylor Bradford once again touches on subjects that will stir the hearts and minds of her readers -- unconditional love and devotion, loyalty, and loss.Performed by Samantha Eggar