Dreams of Gold Author:Maynard F. Thomson Here, in the first novel to capture the heart-stopping excitement of world-class figure skating, Maynard F. Thomson tells the story of a young skater with the courage to confront an Olympic challenge and personal demons as she makes a daring leap for her DREAMS OF GOLD. They rivaled the greatest pairs skaters in history, and had fallen madly in... more » love. Maggie Campbell's exuberance captured the hearts of an audience, while Clay Bartlett turned their routines into a spectacle of style and sexual energy. Then their dreams died. An auto accident ended Clay's career, and in the car with him, escaping unhurt, was Maggie's rival on and off the ice, figure skating champion Doe Rawlings. Now Maggie is a pairs skater without a partner - a woman struggling to save a dream. Overwhelmed by a need to beat Doe on ice, she makes a controversial decision: to leave pairs skating for singles competition. No one supports her; no one believes she can do it - except legendary Japanese coach whose classical training style reaches for art, defying the sport's trend toward athleticism. To work with her, Maggie must journey to Japan. There, racing time and fighting an inner war between anger and love, she will discover secrets about her family she never suspected, depths of passion in herself she never expected, and technical and artistic heights of skating she never imagined. And there, pushing herself to her physical and emotional limits, she must decide if a risk-filled Olympic performance is worth what it alone can give her: her last, desperate chance to be number one..... DREAMS OF GOLD lets you experience the passion and intensity behind the spectacular performances of world-class figure skaters: the dangerous hazards, the agonizing sacrifices, the cutthroat intrigues, and the tantalizing promises of Olympic gold. Moving with the speed and the power of blades on ice, it sweeps you along toward one woman's breathless moment of truth....under the eyes of millions, defeat or glory.« less