Book excerpt: Shadows figure heavily in romance writer Charlotte M. Brame's body of work. Deeply concerned with the morality of romance and interpersonal relationships, Brame displays an acute understanding of the way that past misdeeds can cast a pall over even the most pure and innocent love and cause inner conflict. "The Shadow of a Sin" embodies Brame's remarkable ability to create three-dimensional, deeply human characters for whom romance and remorse are eternally intertwined.