pursuit of the lovely Chiara. But can she trust his declarations of love or does the mysterious, dark-haired stranger she encounters by chance on the seashore hold the key to her future happiness? Mervyn Hunter proposes marriage to Chiara and she turns him down, as she does not love him and she senses that he is cold and calculating and has an ulterior motive in asking her to be his wife.

As she watches spellbound, a group of wild swans fly North over the sea towards Russia, Chiara feels a magical world of passion and beauty calling to her. Soon she too will be travelling North to the enchanting City of St. Petersburg, although in the company of Mervyn Hunter’s pushy sister and her two tiresome daughters. But will she ever break free from the clutches of Mervyn Hunter and his family and be reunited with her true soulmate, the elusive and mysterious Count Dimitrov? Find out, in this scintillating and thrilling romance by Barbara Cartland. Barbara Cartland was the world’s most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages. As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world. She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone’s life."