Spinning the Moon

“A book you could get lost in.”

—
Delta Magazine

“Gothic gold.”

—
The Atlantan

“White's dizzying carousel of a plot keeps those pages turning, so much so that the book can—and should—be finished in one afternoon, interrupted only by a glass of sweet iced tea.”

—Oprah.com

“Readers will find White's prose an uplifting experience, as she is a truly gifted storyteller.”

—
Las Vegas Review-Journal

“This is storytelling of the highest order: the kind of book that leaves you both deeply satisfied and aching for more.”

—Beatriz Williams,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Tiny Little Thing

“An intriguing and romantic family drama.”

—
Booklist

“A story as intricate and sturdy as a sweetgrass basket, with the fresh, magnetic voices of its headstrong characters.”

—ArtsATL

“White entwines historical fact and research seamlessly through the lives of these strong and intriguing women.”

—
Library Journal

“White's ability to showcase her characters' flaws and strengths is one of the best in the genre.”

—
RT Book Reviews

“A perfect read for the summer.”

—
The Florida Times-Union

“Brilliant and engrossing . . . a rare gem . . . exquisitely told.”

—The Book Connection

THE COLOR OF LIGHT

LEARNING TO BREATHE

PIECES OF THE HEART

THE MEMORY OF WATER

THE LOST HOURS

ON FOLLY BEACH

FALLING HOME

THE BEACH TREES

SEA CHANGE

AFTER THE RAIN

THE TIME BETWEEN

A LONG TIME GONE

THE SOUND OF GLASS

THE FORGOTTEN ROOM

(cowritten with Beatriz Williams and Lauen Willig)

FLIGHT PATTERNS

The Tradd Street Series

THE HOUSE ON TRADD STREET

THE GIRL ON LEGARE STREET

THE STRANGERS ON MONTAGU STREET

RETURN TO TRADD STREET

BERKLEY

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

In the Shadow of the Moon
copyright © 2000 by Karen White, 2016 by Harley House Books, LLC

Whispers of Goodbye
copyright © 2001 by Karen White, 2016 by Harley House Books, LLC

Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

BERKLEY is a registered trademark and the B colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: White, Karen (Karen S.), author. | White, Karen (Karen S.) In the

shadow of the moon. | White, Karen (Karen S.) Whispers of goodbye.

Title: Spinning the moon / Karen White.

Other titles: In the shadow of the moon. | Whispers of goodbye.

Description: New York: Berkley Books, [2016] | “Includes two classic romance

novels . . . completely revised and together in one volume for the first time.”

Identifiers: LCCN 2016012402 (print) | LCCN 2016019591 (ebook) | ISBN

9781101989517 (softcover) | ISBN 9781101989494 (ebook)

Subjects: | BISAC: FICTION / Romance / Gothic. | FICTION / Romance /

Historical. | FICTION / Historical. | GSAFD: Love stories. | Gothic

fiction. | Fantasy fiction.

Classification: LCC PS3623.H5776 A6 2016 (print) | LCC PS3623.H5776 (ebook) |

DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016012402

PUBLISHING HISTORY

In the Shadow of the Moon:
Love Spell mass-market edition / August 2000

Whispers of Goodbye:
Love Spell mass-market edition / October 2001

Cover art: Photo of Southern manor home at night © Jeremy Woodhouse/Spaces Images/ Corbis

Images; photo of moon © johnnorth/ Thinkstock

Cover design by Sarah Oberrender

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

To all of my lovely readers whose requests
to read my first two long-out-of-print books
made this publication
possible

Thanks to my editor, Cindy Hwang, who read the first incarnation of
In the Shadow of the Moon
before it was initially published and saw promise in me as a writer; to my publisher, Penguin Random House, and the most amazing and supportive sales, marketing, publicity, and editorial team an author could ever want.

Last, but not least, to Anthony Ramondo and the magicians in the art department for finally giving these books the cover they
deserve.

During the summer of the Atlanta Olympics (1996), I was the mother of two small children and suffering from a severe bout of book hangover. I had just finished reading Diana Gabaldon's
Outlander
and was finding it impossible to pick up another book to read because I was still living in eighteenth-century Scotland with the incredible characters and setting the author had created.

Deciding to finally listen to all the teachers I'd had since I was in elementary school who told me I should write, I pulled a chair up to my desk and started to type. If I couldn't pick up another book to read, maybe I could
write
a book instead. So I did. I set no goals at first, just wanting to see whether I could write the kind of book I'd like to read. I wrote when the children napped and when I felt like it (oh, those blissful predeadline days!). I laughed and I cried, and I held my breath during the tense scenes—an experience just like reading a favorite book. I let my neighbor read it as I wrote each chapter and I chose to believe her when she told me it was good.

That gave me the confidence to finish the book and submit it to a writing contest. It won, and the finals judge, a New York City literary agent, offered to represent me, then quickly sold it to a small New York publisher.
In the Shadow of the Moon
was published in 2000, and my second novel,
Whispers of Goodbye
, was published in 2001.

Despite horrendous covers and extremely small print runs, I was very proud of these first two books. I loved the stories and the characters I had created, and was overwhelmed by the positive feedback I received from readers. Although the subject matter is vastly different from my more recent books (
Shadow
is a time-travel romance set in Civil War Georgia and
Whispers
is a gothic romance—à la Victoria Holt and Daphne du Maurier—set in Reconstruction Louisiana), the themes of
family, home, and a woman's journey from loss to inner strength will be familiar ones to my current readers.

This is the reason why, a decade and a half since their original publications, my current publisher and I have decided to rerelease my first two novels. We believe my readers will enjoy this glimpse into my earliest works and appreciate the stories and familiar themes, and perhaps identify what it is that makes these “Karen White novels.”

If you are among the few who had the chance to read these books in their original editions and enjoyed them, please know that I have taken the opportunity to clean up and edit both books, hopefully upgrading the writing style from that of a novice to that of a seasoned writer. But the stories and characters that you first fell in love with are untouched.

Whether you're a new reader to these books or they are old favorites, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed creating them—both times.

Happy reading!

Karen