Amazon.com description: Product Description: Peopled with unforgettable characters, Beloved is a feast of a novel that sweeps the reader away to the opulent world of eighteenth century France where Christina DiClementi, daughter of an Italian silk merchant plans to marry her childhood sweetheart, Richard Magnet, the youngest son of the Baron de Beauvu. But a lifetime of expectations are shattered by a violent murder which sets them both on an uncharted course of heart rending loss, erotic obsession and new alliances. From the houses of the nobility and the great abbey of Montmajour to the brothels of a bustling city, and from a simple island cottage to the canals of Venice, they struggle to mold their lives around the memory of love that will ultimately reshape itself into something far beyond themselves. This is storytelling at its very best, a complex and compelling novel that will capture your imagination so strongly that you will find yourself reading the final page with a pang of regret.