The year is 1927, and all is not well in war-ravished Germany. Nine years after the end of the Great War, dark times still cloud the country - but who has the heart to tell that to Peter, a young boy of the suburbs? Growing up innocent, there is nothing to stop his happy memories from forming: birthdays, friends, markets, and, mostly, Rebecca.
The year is 1936, and Hitler will not bring glory to Germany. Three years before the beginning of the Second World War, Peter knows that. Grown up and defeated, Peter no longer thinks of Rebecca. Until he finds her huddled in an alleyway, a Jew and an outcast.
Henley agrees to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for a fee, falling in love as she wonders - how is he involved in her brother's false conviction?
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Henley Linden's brother is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and she'll take any job to raise the money needed to free him. Soon, she's agreed to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for ten thousand dollars, so his mother will ease up the pressure on him to find a wife. But once Henley is enmeshed in Bennett's world, he falls for her, and she starts to have feelings for him as well. Despite her romance with Bennett, as she grows closer to the Calloways, Henley realizes they are somehow involved in her brother's conviction. Journeying deeper into a world of wealth and conspiracies, Henley is forced to rely on Bennett, though doing so could cost her everything.
[[word count: 200,000-250,000 words]]