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Light of the Moon" is Luanne Rice's most recent novel for adults and was released in January.

The prologue of the novel catches the reader's attention, that's for sure. It's a dark, foggy night. A young girl awakens to whispering voices. She looks out the window and sees a car, a man with a mustache and her mother's bags.

Her mother is going away. The girl runs down the stairs to plead with her mother, but, shockingly, the mother pushes her daughter away. She even slaps the girl, causing her to stumble and fall backwards.

There's no time to get Father. Mother is getting in the car already. So, the girl runs to the barn and jumps onto the back of Mystere, her mother's favorite horse. Without bridle or saddle, the girl urges the big white horse out into the night.

The girl can't see; it's raining snow. She and Mystere race down the road. She sees red brake lights. The car is pulling over - Mother is stopping.

But, it's only for a minute. The car pulls out and gets away fast - too fast for Mystere. The girl doesn't see another car coming. Mystere tries to dodge it. The girl is thrown over the horse's head, and she is horribly broken.

Five years pass. Susannah Connolly is on a plane, headed for France. She's going to visit Camargue, an area in the southern part of the country, with its 220,000 acres of wild marsh, pastures, dunes and its famous white horses.

Susannah is an anthropologist who is on sabbatical from Connecticut College. Her specialty is the study of cave paintings, especially those with horse illustrations. She's been in caves all around the world, some that no other person would explore.

This time, however, she will examine some documents in a library. The main purposes of her trip are to see the white horses and to visit an ancient church with a statue of "Sarah," an Egyptian slave girl who was thought to have special healing powers.

Susannah's mother and father visited the church before Susannah was born. Margaret Connolly believed Sarah was responsible for a family miracle. She and Susannah planned to visit Camargue together, but Margaret developed cancer and died six months earlier.

Before she died, Margaret made Susannah promise to visit the statue of Sarah herself.

Susannah wasn't there when her mother died, and colleague Ian tries to get Susannah to feel guilt for not being at her mother's side. He says that Susannah is always making unwise choices. One of them is not marrying him.

Susannah is taking a break from Ian.

During the two-week stay at Camargue, Susannah will find herself drawn into a group of women who believe in Sarah's healing powers. She'll meet Grey Dempsey, his daughter, Sari, and the white horse, Mystere. There are other colorful characters, too.

This is a fascinating novel with a rather unexpected ending.

Luanne Rice has written 24 novels, including "Sandcastles" and "What Matters Most."

"Light of the Moon," published by Bantam Dell is $25 in hardcover. You can also find it at the Moffat County Library.

Copyright Diane Prather, 2008. All rights reserved.