title: Alethea
author: Belle, Pamela
description: The saga of the Heron family in 17th-Century England continues with the story of Alethea, daughter of Simon and Thomazine, protagonists of The Moon in the Water and The Chains of Fate. At 11, Alethea is sent to live with relatives in London to study painting when it becomes obvious that the jealousy of her older half-brother Kit, who has pretensions of becoming an artist, will make her life at home a misery. As the years pass, her talent develops, and Alethea becomes determined to devote herself to her art and never marry. She struggles to hold onto her dream despite setbacks (among them a pregnancy) and old family feuds and animosities coming back to blight the younger generation of Herons.