The Sands of Time

　　Spain. A land of eternal passion and unceasing bloodshed. Fromthe vengeance of a pitiless tyrant, four women flee the sacred,once-safe walls of a convent: LUCIA, the proud survivor harboring amurderous secret from the savage clan wars of Sicily...GRACIELLA,the beauty still unpurged of guilt from one reckless, youthfulsin...MEGAN, the orphan seeking perilous refuge in the arms of adefiant Basque rebel...and TERESA, the believer haunted by a faiththat mocks her with silence. Leaving innocence but not hope behind,they venture into an alien, dazzling world, where each willencounter an unexpected destiny -- and the truth about herself.

"Enormously entertaining...delightful"
-- Chattanooga Times

"Big, broad splashes of action and crude but colorful charactersare Sheldon's trademarks, as he demonstrates again in a new novelprobably destined to join Windmills of the Gods and Rage of Angelson the bestseller list. The backdrop for this romantic adventurestory is the conflict between Basque nationalists and a repressiveSpanish government in the post-Franco years. Pitted against eachother in a fight to the death are charismatic Basque guerrillaleader Jaime Miro and corrupt, sadistic Colonel Acoca. When Acocabrutally sacks a convent in search of Miro, four nuns escape at theurging of Sister Lucia, who has been hiding in the cloister sincetaking vengeance on the men who put her Mafioso father behind bars.Beautiful Sister Graciela, tomboyish, orphaned Sister Megan andSister Teresa, who is teetering toward a breakdown, flee into theforest with Lucia, where they are grudgingly befriended by Miro andhis gang. Before crossing Spain to a rendezvous point, the groupsplits up to more safely evade an increasingly enraged ColonelAcoca. Lucia's predicament presents an amusing counterpoint tosuspense, as Rubio, the simple peasant who accompanies her, kindlyexplains worldly activities to a woman who knows a great deal morethan he does. Not a breath of subtlety touches these pages, butgoodwill and lively subplots move the book along at a spiritedpace."
-- Publishers Weekly