When journalist Monica Brunetti enters the town of Lady Helen, she is awed by its beauty. The picturesque South African village takes hold of her heart, especially the beleaguered residents of Sandpiper Drift, who are threatened with eviction from their tranquil neighborhood beside the lagoon. And so Monica packs up her laptop, her adopted sons and her housekeeper, Francina--who's wrestling with a major decision of her own--for the journey of a lifetime.

Vanessa Del Fabbro was born in South Africa in 1968. After majoring in communications and English literature, she worked in print and radio journalism, and then spent a year in England before coming to the United States in 1995. She has lived in St Louis, Missouri, Montgomery, Alabama and now makes her home in Houston, Texas, with her husband and daughter.

Vanessa writes whenever she can find time, usually late at night or early in the morning when her daughter is asleep. She loves long walks, Florida Panhandle beaches in winter, botanical gardens, picnics, meeting people from different cultures, reading and dancing around the living room with her daughter. She misses her family in South Africa, the low-humidity days of her hometown, Johannesburg, and her countrymen's easy humor that mixes the local languages with unique flair, but, after a decade in the United States, she still feels as though she's on an adventure and has much more to discover. You can write to her at vanessadelfabbro@hotmail.com.