Imaginary Brightness is the first book in a trilogy - a Gilded Age drama about the lives of William West Durant and his sister Ella, the children of the powerful American industrialist and railroad tycoon Dr. Thomas C. Durant. William and Ella find their fortunes and reputations threatened by their father's questionable business dealings as head of the Union Pacific Railroad during the construction of the Transcontinental Line. As the family's finances teeter on the brink of bankruptcy, both brother and sister are whisked from their privileged lifestyle in high society London to the untamed Adirondack forests. It is in this wilderness landscape that the tension between passion and propriety, their future and their family, turn their worlds upside down. Imaginary Brightness explores the early conquest of the great north woods, eavesdrops on America's robber barons from the supper clubs of Manhattan, and reveals the inner turmoil of a dynastic American family.