Pauline Valery is a scorned woman, rejected by her lover Gilbert Redmond for a wealthy heiress, she will stop at nothing to exact revenge. She will don a metaphorical mask, shielding her true emotions to the world only allowing people to see what she allows them to see. Using her understanding of human nature, she manipulates those around her to carry out her will, in this fast paced, chilling thriller. The consequences will be severe, but Pauline is a woman possessed and she will stop at nothing till Gilbert has felt her pain. It is a story perfect for lovers of revenge stories and thrillers, or anyone who loved Cameron Diaz’s ‘The Other Woman’. Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an author, abolitionist and proud feminist. Her family suffered financially while she was growing up and so she was forced to take on multiple jobs in her youth to help provide for her family. Her writing became her outlet, forming her ideas and beliefs in the empowerment of women and people in to literature that reverberates to this day. Her most notable works include "Little Women", which is now a movie starring Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet, its sequel ‘Little Men’ and ‘An Old Fashioned Girl’.

Reproduction of the original. The publishing house Megali specialises in reproducing historical works in large print to make reading easier for people with impaired vision.

LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

Fans of Alcott's work, such as the beloved classic Little Women, will be pleasantly surprised by this fast-paced tale of betrayal and revenge. ...

To and fro, like a wild creature in its cage, paced that handsome woman, with bent head, locked hands, and restless steps. Some mental storm, swift and sudden as a tempest of the tropics, had swept over her and left its marks behind. As if in anger at the beauty now proved powerless, all ornaments had been flung away, yet still it shone undimmed, and filled her with a passionate regret. A jewel glittered at her feet, leaving the lace rent to shreds on the indignant bosom that had worn it; the wreaths of hair that had crowned her with a woman's most womanly adornment fell disordered upon shoulders that gleamed the fairer for the scarlet of the pomegranate flowers clinging to the bright meshes that had imprisoned them an hour ago; and over the face, once so affluent in youthful bloom, a stern pallor had fallen like a blight, for pride was slowly conquering passion, and despair had murdered hope.Pausing in her troubled march, she swept away the curtain swaying in the wind and looked out, as if imploring help from Nature, the great mother of us all. A summer moon rode high in a cloudless heaven, and far as eye could reach stretched the green wilderness of a Cuban cafetal. No forest, but a tropical orchard, rich in lime, banana, plantain, palm, and orange trees, under whose protective shade grew the evergreen coffee plant, whose dark-red berries are the fortune of their possessor, and the luxury of one-half the world. Wide avenues diverging from the mansion, with its belt of brilliant shrubs and flowers, formed shadowy vistas, along which, on the wings of the wind, came a cof far-off music, like a wooing voice; for the magic of night and distance lulled the cadence of a Spanish contradanza to a trance of sound, soft, subdued, and infinitely sweet. It was a southern scene, but not a southern face that looked out upon it with such unerring glance; there was no southern languor in the figure, stately and erect; no southern swarthiness on fairest cheek and arm; no southern darkness in the shadowy gold of the neglected hair; the light frost of northern snows lurked in the features, delicately cut, yet vividly alive, betraying a temperament ardent, dominant, and subtle. For passion burned in the deep eyes, changing their violet to black. Pride sat on the forehead, with its dark brows; all a woman's sweetest spells touched the lips, whose shape was a smile; and in the spirited carriage of the head appeared the freedom of an intellect ripened under colder skies, the energy of a nature that could wring strength from suffering, and dare to act where feebler souls would only dare desire.

The beautiful Pauline has been wronged and sets about getting a little her own back. Collateral damage ensues in this tale of revenge and it's consequences. "Pauline's Passion and Punishment" is pretty mild stuff if you read it from the perspective of a 21st century reader. It helps to have some idea of what life was like and what was expected of men and women in the 1860s to truly appreciate this story.