A lost book discovered in a battered sea chest, an empty Victorian house overlooking the Columbia River, two lives intertwined across time.
Lucas is swept into a saga written in 1750 by an English orphan facing desperate options. Verity travels the Silk Road deep into Asia where she captures the Khan’s attention, triggering fateful consequences unfolding across generations. Coping with his grandmother’s legacy and a lifelong rivalry with his brother, Lucas faces the same timeless questions posed in the weathered book—questions of passion, chance, and the truth of the heart.
On Pandora’s wedding day Zeus, the king of the gods, gave her a gift. It was a gold box decorated with jewels and precious pearls. Zeus told Pandora she must never open the box. One day, unable to resist temptation, Pandora opens the lid just a crack. Out of the box fly all the plagues of the human world–hunger, fear, sickness, and death. Pandora slams the lid shut, but the source of all human grief is unleashed. Only one thing remains in the box and does not escape: Hope.
Unfolding in alternating chapters, the lives and voices of Verity and Lucas are interwoven across time. With a lyrical grace reminiscent of Maggie O’Farrell, and evoking Kristin Hannah’s tender exploration of family ties, Pandora’s Last Gift casts a spell when unlocked revelations are finally set free.
Kim K. McCrea 