Tory

Victoria Washington—sophisticated and elegant, owner of Victoria’s House of Fashion, designer of haute couture gowns for the wealthy and elite of Denver, a brilliant and successful businesswoman in her own right. Tory, as she is known to her friends, is also a supporter of Palmer House—a most extraordinary refuge for young women rescued from prostitution.

The girls of Palmer House were once captives of the two houses of ill repute in Corinth, the little mountain village above Denver. Through no fault of her own, Tory was one of those girls. And Tory’s past hides more than one dark secret: She was born in the deep South to Adeline Washington—a negress, the daughter and granddaughter of slaves, and the “kept” woman of a wealthy, married white man.

Tory’s mixed blood, her illegitimate birth, and the shame of her exploitation follow her down the mountain and haunt her, even to the cusp of...