The saga of an English family in New Zealand and the secret that haunts them, from the New York Times-bestselling author of The American Heiress.  For Kate O'Connor, desperate to escape her tragic past in England, the opportunity to immigrate to New Zealand with Sir John Devenish and his wife and daughter is a chance to start over. Exhilarated by this wild, primitive place on the other side of the world, Kate's happiness is marred by a love she knows is taboo. When a sudden and suspicious death throws her life into turmoil, she begins to uncover the real reason the Devenish family left England. From a grand townhouse in London to a sheep farm in New Zealand, An Important Family, which was hailed by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as "a compulsive page turner," is the story of a country in the midst of colonization-a transformation that parallels Kate O'Connor's own rite of passage into womanhood as she finds her future in a magnificent new land.