As Dawn Breaks

In Breslin’s latest suspenseful historical (after High as the Heavens), she reintroduces RAF Capt. Alex Baird. Returning home to Gretna, Scotland, in 1918 during WWI, under the guise of a medical discharge, Alex is on a secret mission to gather intelligence on the terrorist who is blowing up munitions factories in England and Scotland. After her parents’ deaths, Rosalind Graham and her younger brothers went to live with a cruel uncle. Now of marriageable age, Rose has become a pawn in a high-stakes financial arrangement between her uncle and Julien Dexter, the son of a cash-poor earl. When the Chilwell munitions factory explodes, Rose discovers the world believes she died and her best friend Tilly Lockhart survived, when, in fact, the reverse is true. In an effort to rescue her brothers, Rose assumes Tilly’s identity and becomes a supervisor at the Gretna munitions factory. Alex and Rose’s first encounter is anything but romantic; in a “wrong hotel room” scenario, he’s greeting by a startled Rose swinging a golf club. Unbeknownst to Rose, Tilly harbored dangerous secrets—when Alex links “Tilly” to the saboteur, he fears his affection for her will cloud his professional judgment. Breslin keeps the tension up without too many twists. The stakes could not be higher—in both love and war—in this espionage tale drenched in intrigue. Agent: Linda Glaz, Hartline Literary Agency. (Nov.)