Synopsis: From the Doubleday Dust Jacket Front Flap: "Shadow on the Hearth is the story of Gladys Mitchell, a young, attractive Westchester housewife who, through hope and courage, successfully fought the chaos in the wake of atomic war. This day started as it usually did, Gladys occupied herself with the irksome but satisfying routine of a pleasant and happy household. The she noticed the sound - a sort of far-off thunder. Soon there was the ominous feeling of something wrong; and finally the dawning, numbing comprehension... Then the frantic terror, mounting slowly as the great mushrooming cloud had mounted a few hours ago over New York Harbor. As the holocaust reached out and seemed to envelope all, Gladys thought first of her family. Was her husband alive or dead? How could she protect her two daughters from this insidious enemy? She found staunch and unexpected allies in her own children, in a mysterious fugitive, and in an idealistic young doctor. Together they welded courage and understanding to triumph over terror and desperation."