Catherine M. Rae

Catherine M. Rae wrote historical fiction and suspense novels that often place family fortunes and private secrets within carefully observed American settings. Sunlight on a Broken Column, issued by St. Martin's Press in 1997, unfolds in turn-of-the-century New York and Newport. Sisters Caroline and Laurel Slade face sharply different futures after their parents die and the family fortune disappears. Caroline values study and independence, while Laurel seeks security through wealthy society, and their choices lead them into the household of an older benefactor and her troubled great-nephew. Rae uses contrasting sisters to examine education, money, reputation, and the limited options available to women of their period. Sunlight on a Broken Column was Rae's seventh novel after The Hidden Cove and belongs to her established historical romances. The later Macmillan edition retains its Gilded Age setting and its mixture of social history, family drama, and suspense.