Past stories . . . Imagined
Two of my lifelong loves are stories and the past. Even as a child, when I read books (which was like every breathing moment), I’d gravitate toward stories written either in the past or about the past. I especially loved historical fiction and biographies—didn’t matter the time period or location. The past intrigued me. Still does.
I can’t look at an old picture without envisioning a story behind each face. I can’t enter an antique store or museum without wishing the items could talk. Family stories . . . historical events . . . inscriptions on gravestones stir my imagination.
Each of my novels begin with a kernel of historical truth, but the rest is imagined, the result of questions my brain is always asking, like “what was it like,” or “what if.” My current series is set in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming at the turn of the 20th century. I look forward to having you travel there with me.
Current series:
The Trouble with Jenny
She’s always getting into trouble. He’s always getting hurt.
At the turn of the 20th century, New York socialite Jenny Westraven is in trouble . . . again. An orphaned heiress from a large banking family, she’s expected to follow the rules of society and marry according to her wealth and status. But Jenny craves adventure and anything BUT the ordinary. So, when her guardian aunt and uncle return from a European vacation to find Jenny working as a typewriter girl in a Newark law office, they are appalled. Worse yet, they interrupt a kiss between her and her young boss Mr. “Ben” Bennett.
Jenny has been getting Ben in trouble since he was ten, so he’s secretly relieved when her guardians reject him as a suitor. He has other plans for his life, and they don’t include his troublesome childhood friend. When Jenny uses outrageous methods to reject the suitors her family does approve for her, her aunt and uncle decide to send her to her brother in Wyoming.
Then, a family tragedy takes Ben out west as well, and his path crosses with Jenny’s once again. As they work together to end an injustice, what was merely an attraction between them develops into something more. Unfortunately, Jenny’s involvement with another man comes between them and puts her in the worst trouble of her life.
Now Ben must decide whether to risk his heart to rescue her once again or cut his losses and let her go.
Songs in the Storm
The blood on the handkerchief changed everything.
The year 1900 promises to be a good one for Rob and Maddie Skivington. Recently married, they look forward to building a home near family and friends in the busy industrial city of Newark where Rob owns a fledgling jewelry business. Then, an irritating cough that has plagued Rob for months turns out to be something far more insidious: tuberculosis—a diagnosis of death to most who fall victim to it.
When Rob’s doctor suggests a change in environment and climate, they sell their business and head to Wyoming in a desperate quest for health.
The couple purchases a band of 3000 sheep and heads into the Wind River Mountains with a few sheep dogs and a sheepherder’s wagon. They soon find themselves pitted not only against the harsh environment and natural predators, but also against a group of ranchers who seem determined to send them back to Newark.
But sometimes the strongest storms of all are those that rage within. When despair and loneliness and tragedy strike, the couple must turn to God to help them weather those onslaughts or risk being torn apart.
A Refuge of Convenience
Can two damaged hearts find healing in love?
On the run from her past, nurse Claire Monroe’s only hope of disappearing lies in the hands of her former patient, Wyoming rancher, Jackson Garrity. But Jackson shouldn’t even be out of the hospital yet. He can barely walk, let alone protect her. Besides, he’s a man, and life has taught her men are not to be trusted.
Jackson doesn’t know a thing about women. Ever since his mother abandoned him and his three brothers, his father hasn’t allowed a single female—human or animal—to live on their ranch. But one thing he does know: Claire is hiding secrets, dark ones, and he’d be a fool to take her home with him. But when his boss delivers an ultimatum—marry Claire or lose his job and any hope of owning a ranch of his own—he and Claire reach an uneasy compromise in a marriage of convenience.
Then a Pinkerton detective shows up on their doorstep and their convenient marriage becomes anything but.