First Born Son: Book 1 in the Philippe Duval series by J. Mary Masters

To the world beyond, Philippe Duval, eminent surgeon, husband to Julia, father to Pippa, appears to have a settled life other men would envy. What could possibly upend it?

Could it be his lingering interest in a beautiful woman who should now be out of bounds? A woman he turned his back on to marry his long lost love Julia Belleville. Or could it be what emerges unexpectedly from his early life?

Brought up in poverty by his single mother among America's wealthy elite on Long Island, he has always seen himself as an outsider. Not belonging. Never welcome. Shamed for his illegitimacy. Rescued only by his own determination to succeed. Or so he thinks.

As father and daughter head to New York, their plans appear straightforward. She will work a short internship at a Manhattan hospital while he attends medical conferences.

But he does not know Pippa is desperate to flesh out the details of his early life of which he has told her very little.

Yet even as she begins to delve into his early life, events overtake her. And they overtake her father too who is left to wonder if an unseen hand had guided his life in ways he never understood.

As events unfold over which he has no control, Philippe's life takes a dramatic new direction. And with that new direction comes new possibilities and temptations that will rock the foundations of his life, including his marriage. His life will never be the same again.

Author's note: You can read about the beginning of the Julia Belleville/Philippe Duval love story in the Belleville family series - Julia's Story (Book 1); To Love, Honour and Betray (Book 2); and Return to Prior Park (Book 3). Book 4 in the Belleville series, Heirs and Successors, featuring many of the same characters, is published alongside First Born Son.