Hearts Upon a Fragile Bough

When Hannah Reilly steps off the ship on the shores of Ellis Island in 1912 she has no idea that it is not a convent that awaits her. It is a man who finds her far too beautiful to marry God. Madly in love, Hannah and Wade settle in Jacksonville, Florida, where the world holds the promise of sunshine. They have two wonderful children before life changes and Wade insists that Hannah abort her third child. When Hannah refuses, Wade turns to alcohol and other women. Joy turns to darkness after Wade commits his wife to a mental institution where her life ends by her own hand in 1934. Hannah's third child, Vita, flees her aunt's motel where she is forced to work as a cleaning maid and winds up in Miami in Kit Malone's high class brothel. Beautiful and stately, vita becomes a high class prostitute, a millionaire mistress and a Billy Rose showgirl. When Vita meets the love of her life in Manhattan, the charming but naive Julius Clark, life blossoms into something both frightening and titillating. But when Vita gives birth to her daughter, Fanny, it is this shadowy and stormy relationship that alters the course of both of their destinies and defines their future.