title: Twilight of a Queen: A Novel (The Dark Queen Saga)
author:  Susan Carroll 
description: In Carroll's conclusion to her Dark Queen series, Catherine de Medici returns, still eager to claim the knowledge of the Book of Shadows. Catherine enlists the ruthless Louis Xavier to kidnap Meg Wolfe, a sorceress who is reputed to have the knowledge, from Faire Isle where she is under the protection of Ariane Deauville. Xavier, who has unfinished family business on Faire Isle, wants nothing to do with the place, but washes ashore there when his ship veers off course in a storm. Once on the island, he falls in love with Lady Jane Danvers, Ariane's successor, but his peace is shattered by the reach of the Dark Queen, who must be destroyed if any of the women of Faire Isle are to survive. While the focus is mostly on Louis Xavier and Meg's stories, familiar characters from previous installments appear. The backdrop of political upheaval in France in 1588 is an exciting and extravagant setting, but the ending feels anticlimactic in light of the terrifying threat the Dark Queen has posed throughout the series. Carroll's fans, however, should be well satisfied. <i>(Aug.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  # Many Kingdoms
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### Elizabeth Jordan
  
  
  This page copyright © 2002 Munsey's.
  
  
  http://www.munseys.com
  
  I. VARICK'S LADY O' DREAMS
  
  
  II. THE EXORCISM OF LILY BELL
  
  
  III. HER LAST DAY
  
  
  IV. THE SIMPLE LIFE OF GENEVIEVE MAUD
  
  
  V. HIS BOY
  
  
  VI. THE COMMUNITY'S SUNBEAM
  
  
  VII. IN MEMORY OF HANNAH'S LAUGH
  
  
  VIII. THE QUEST OF AUNT NANCY
  
  
  IX. THE HENRY SMITHS' HONEYMOON
  
  
  X. THE CASE OF KATRINA
  
  
  XI. BART HARRINGTON, GENIUS
  
  
  
  
  
  
      
  
  
  Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
  
  
  and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ### I. VARICK'S LADY O' DREAMS
  
  
  
  
  
    
  Varick laid down the book with which he had beguiled an hour of the
  
  
  night, turned off the electric light in the shaded globe that hung
  
  
  above his head, pulled the sheets a little nearer his chin, reversed
  
  
  his pillow that he might rest his cheek more gratefully on the cooler
  
  
  linen, stretched, yawned, and composed himself to slumber with an
  
  
  absolute