Tessa O’Connor is tired of the high society lifestyle, and the pressure is on for her to marry a wealthy man. Fearful of becoming trapped in a life that would make her increasingly miserable, she decides to try the mail-order bride approach.

Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family. In time Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the master's opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart.

Moments after Lisbeth is born, she’s taken from her mother and handed over to an enslaved wet nurse, Mattie, a young mother separated from her own infant son in order to care for her tiny charge. Thus begins an intense relationship that will shape both of their lives for decades to come. Though Lisbeth leads a life of privilege, she finds nothing but loneliness in the company of her overwhelmed mother and her distant, slave-owning father.

When a 70-year-old woman finds a five-year-old girl abandoned on her doorstep, she is thrust into a sorrowful past that can only be conquered with the help of the girl who opened her memory - the very girl she is trying to save. This first novel, according to author Jacquelyn Mitchard, is one of "exquisite power, honesty, and conviction...quite nearly without flaws."

Ivy Jeffries falls hopelessly in love with Jonas Armstrong, a man who has forced himself into a somewhat reclusive lifestyle owing to his sordid past. Ivy is elated when he finally lets his guard down and kisses her. She thinks they are now moving forward into a relationship, until he tells her it meant nothing to him. How could a kiss like they shared mean nothing to him, when it meant the world to her?

Caroline is desperate to reach Oregon and find her only living relative. She persuades Simon, a man traveling on a wagon train, to let her pose as his wife. As they face and overcome capture by Indians and other dangerous adventures along the Oregon Trail, Caroline and Simon bond as friends. When they reach Oregon and Caroline's Aunt Hattie, they go their separate ways as agreed upon at the beginning of their farce. Soon, they both realize that parting was a mistake. Did love come too quietly for them to recognize it—and have they lost their chance? Will they find each other again?

On Leila's way to meet her intended as his mail order bride, Dan McCall, a federal agent, finds her lying on the side of the road unconscious. He rescues her and she attaches her heart to him immediately. Dan is not the marrying kind...or is he? Joe, her intended, is not happy to lose yet another mail order bride, and takes drastic measures to insure their marriage. Leila faces a dilemma - risk the man's life who saved hers, or marry a man she despises.

In 1945, when Billy May was 14 years old and alone, three local boys witnessed an incident in which Billy May's sexuality was called into question. Determined to teach her a lesson she would never forget, they orchestrated a brutal attack that changed the dynamics of the tiny coal mining village of Cedar Hollow, West Virginia forever. Thirty years after the brutal attack, living in solitude on top of Crutcher Mountain, Billy May discovers the hideout of a young girl - a girl who just happens to be the daughter of one of the boys who attacked Billy May so long ago.

Melinda Gamble wants to make a difference in the world. Without hesitation, she accepts a job as a schoolteacher in the small town of Paris, Idaho. She has many challenges such as trying to help a rebellious student, coming face-to-face with a notorious bank robber, a vicious grizzly bear, and finding herself in a terrible blizzard that leaves her clinging to her life. No matter the trial that comes her way, she is ready to fight for what she believes in. But it’s a rugged rancher who challenges Melinda with the one thing for which she was least prepared - love.

A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon - from child to determined young adult to loving mother.

The Lady: After her father's accidental death, it was up to young Fancy Cranson to keep her small family together. But to survive in the pristine woodlands of the Pacific Northwest, she had to use her brains or her body. With no other choice, Fancy vowed she'd work herself to the bone before selling herself to any timberman – even one as handsome, virile, and arrogant as Chance Dawson.

When schoolteacher Elsie Mitchell meets rugged William Benton on a train platform in Albany, it appears they have nothing in common. He isn't the sort of fellow a proper young woman of the 1890s would ever speak to, much less become involved with. But when she arrives at her small town in the Adirondack Mountains, Elsie is offered a job as caregiver for this mysterious out-of-towner's niece and nephew, who've been tragically orphaned. Heartbroken for them, she accepts.

Fragrant blossoms herald spring, but the orchard is also a place of secrets and heartache. After the death of her husband Frank, Eliza is left with three young children and mounting debts. When a gentle stranger enters her orchard, she experiences a peculiar sensation of familiarity with the man. But will his unknown past jeopardize all that she has fought for?

Tragedy has struck the small town of Knollwood, Texas and Dovie Grant finds herself dealing with the loss of her husband and daughter. Despite her grief, she still must fight to bring her remaining family through the already trying times of The Great Depression. Her father needs help on their struggling farm, Quail Crossings. She isn't thrilled that he's hired a young 18 year old boy who's caring for his three younger siblings.

Six-time Christy Award winner Lynn Austin has won a loyal following for her inspiring historical fiction. In Wonderland Creek, young Chicago-area librarian Alice Grace Ripley is left heartbroken when her fiancé breaks up with her just as the Great Depression forces her out of a job. To escape the local gossip, Alice volunteers to deliver donated books to a library in rural Kentucky. There she discovers that God still has a plan for her after all.