ST. GEORGE, Quebec, Jan. 16, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The circumstances of life can bring inescapable pain, but they can also open the doors to happiness. In a new novel by Hilda St. James, Shadows of the Past (now available through 1stBooks), she tells an emotionally gripping story about Sarah, the poor circumstances in her life that cause her pain and the fateful chances that bring her and a bitter young man happiness.
Born to a dysfunctional family that never paid much attention to her, Sarah ends up falling for the wrong kind of men. She becomes pregnant at 17, and her boyfriend abandons her. Her parents urge her to give her baby up for adoption, but to prevent that from happening, she starts a relationship with a new man, Ralph. When she discovers he is married, she is forced to do what she had avoided: give her child up. It almost shatters her completely.
Vowing to turn her life around, Sarah swears off men, goes back to school and becomes a nurse. Donning a strong exterior, she still grieves for her child. She continues along this path until she is hired to provide in-home care for Brandon, a good-looking man from a wealthy family who was in a recent car accident. Sparks fly between the two, and soon, they fall in love. Brandon breaks his engagement to his adopted father's choice for his bride, Stacey.
Sarah, however, is keeping the dark secret about her child, which she thinks will turn Brandon against her. Brandon spent his first few years in an orphanage and has declared to Sarah that he hates his mother and all women who give up their children. To him, they are cold and heartless.
Sarah tries to hide her past from Brandon. However, when Ralph walks back into her life, the situation blows up, and Sarah is forced to tell Brandon the truth. The news devastates Brandon, who finally makes an attempt to find his birth mother. What he discovers shocks him and throws him into feelings of pain and remorse.
Fate brought these two people together, but may rip them apart. How much harm can these secrets do? Follow Sarah and Brandon as they heal together by learning the truth.
At 16 years old, St. James began volunteering in an orphanage, which began a lifetime of helping others. She spent many years as a nursing assistant in Canada and South America. She lives with her husband and two children in Canada.
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