The saga of an English family in New Zealand and the secret that haunts them, from the New York Timesâbestselling author of The American Heiress.
 For Kate OâConnor, 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, Kateâs 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 âa compulsive page turner,â is the story of a country in the midst of colonizationâa transformation that parallels Kate OâConnorâs own rite of passage into womanhood as she finds her future in a magnificent new land.