title: Bellagrand: A Novel
author:  Paullina Simons 
description: The white Floridian mansion seems like a dream to Gina after years of struggling to scrape by. Her relief is palpable at the ease and luxury of life at Bellagrand, given to her husband by his mother, but equally evident is her feeling that this respite cannot last. Set before Simons The Bronze Horseman, the book dissects Ginas fraught marriage at great length. An immigrant from Sicily, Gina finds that her goal of a better life clashes with the consequences of her husbands communist ideals through the strikes, war, and disease of the early twentieth century. Although the simultaneous rise of the Soviet Union and crackdown on seditious comment in the U.S. are central to the story, other historical references at times seem shoehorned in. The plot, despite some eloquent moments, largely plods through more marital squabbles than one would care to count. The central characters are richly developed, and one gets to know them well over such an expanse of time. Whether that time is well spent will depend on the readers investment in the story. --Bridget Thoreson
zlib_text: PAULLINA SIMONS
  
  RED LEAVES
  
  Copyright
  
  Harper  
  An imprint of HarperCollins _Publishers_  
  1 London Bridge Street  
  London SE1 9GF
  
  [www.harpercollins.co.uk](http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
  
  First published in Great Britain by _Flamingo_ an imprint of HarperCollins
  _Publishers_ 1997
  
  Copyright © Paullina Simons 1996
  
  Paullina Simons asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this
  work
  
  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
  
  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents
  portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
  actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
  
  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
  Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-
  exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book
  on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, dow