Wizard's Daughter

Coulter's latest in the historical Sherbrooke series (following Lyon's Gate ) stars Rosalind de la Fontaine, a beautiful young woman with an ethereal voice who has no memory of her name, her family or her heritage since being saved and adopted by Ryder Sherbrooke as a girl. Nicholas Vail, the new earl of Mountjoy, returns to England and recognizes her as the girl he has seen in his dreams since childhood chanting, “I am your debt.” The two are soon inseparable, and their relationship reaches an altogether new level when they inexplicably discover an old book written in code, with tales of a magical place filled with dragons, wizards and abundant evil: the book urges them toward the realization of Nicholas's “debt” and the interpretation of a haunting song that Rosalind sings spontaneously. Coulter leaves some important questions unanswered, and her emphasis on the supernatural results in a faltering romance, but the suspense and the spirited mystery will keep readers glued. (Jan.)