The Gift : A Novel

Softhearted, emotionally fragile Patricia Dennison— orphaned heiress to the Stoneham fortune— divides her life between trips to a Swiss sanatorium, where she is ensconced in the suicide ward, and the farm where she pensions off broken-down horses, cultivates a lush rose garden, and moons after a handsome, seemingly heroic doctor. Enter arrogant Miguel Cardiga, a Portuguese bullfighter whose career is sidelined by a rogue bull's deadly horns. Son of a famed equestrian, Miguel schools Patricia in dressage and love. Meantime, trustees at the Stoneham Group plot to declare Patricia incompetent and engineer a series of accidents designed to drive her over the edge.