In a Winter City

In glittering Floralia, a city of beauty gone stale beneath fashion, money, and social pretension, Lady Hilda Vorarlberg arrives as its most dazzling contradiction. Rich, exquisitely cultivated, and fiercely self-possessed, she despises vulgarity and boredom in equal measure, yet cannot escape either; even her luxury-filled rooms at the Hôtel Murat only sharpen her restlessness. Admired by all, scandal has never touched her, guarded by wealth and by the loyal bluntness of her brother, Lord Clairvaux, but her proud reserve conceals a deep dissatisfaction with a life that has become all surface. As Floralia's elite circle circles her like a prize, the charming Duc de St. Louis and the skeptical Duca della Rocca weigh her beauty, vanity, and value in the marriage market, exposing a world where courtship is strategy and women are judged by style as much as character. Against this glittering cynicism stands Paolo della Rocca, a handsome but impoverished nobleman torn between aristocratic pride and the practical need to marry money. Their encounters with Hilda turn increasingly intimate and charged, especially when music breaks through her polished composure and hints at the emotional emptiness beneath her elegance. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.