In the Shadow of the River

If all the world's a stage Jacci will play her part. She only hopes her story does not turn out to be a tragedy. In 1881 Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother Irena works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace a showboat tied up beside them. There Jacci's actor grandfather tends to her mother and Jacci gets a first taste of the life she will come to lead. Fifteen years later Jacci is an actress aboard that same showboat and largely contented with her adopted family of actors singers and dancers. Especially Gabe who has always supported her and the gruff grandfather she has come to know and love. Jacci's mother has been gone for years but the memory of the altercation that ultimately took her life--and the cryptic things Jacci has overheard about her past--is always there lurking in the back of her mind. When someone on the showboat tries to kill Jacci it's clear her questions demand answers. But secrets have a way of staying in the shadows . . . and the answers she craves will not come easily. "Gabhart delivers an atmospheric romance set on an 1890s showboat with plenty of secrets below deck."--Publishers Weekly "Gabhart's masterful storytelling glows with personality and page-turning surprises."--Booklist