March 11, 2024
The Appalachian mountains provide an atmospheric backdrop for this textured early 20th-century historical romance from Gabhart (In the Shadow of the River). Mira Dean’s childhood sweetheart died of tuberculosis five years before the start of the novel, taking with him her dreams of motherhood. Since then, she’s accepted a bland though comfortable life as a schoolteacher in Louisville, Ky. When missionary Gordon Covington, a former classmate of Mira’s, asks her to marry him and teach the children of the small Appalachian community of Sourwood, she rejects the offer—but changes her mind a few weeks later, after she loses her job and apartment in quick succession. The two marry and Mira soon becomes enamored with her new students, especially 10-year-old orphan Ada June. As Mira’s desire to be a mother resurfaces, she questions whether she’ll be able to have children, and whether her marriage of convenience will ever transform into one of real love. Gabhart sensitively portrays both the challenges of mountain life—poverty, harsh weather, disease—and the heart and warmth of this hardscrabble community. The slow-burn romance between Mira and Gordon adds just the right amount of sweetness. Gabhart’s fans will swoon.
May 1, 2024
Mira Dean isn't expecting a marriage proposal on an ordinary Sunday, but the missionary speaker at church insists that God is calling her to be his wife--and the teacher at his remote Appalachian mission school. Content in her life as a spinster teacher ever since the death of her fianc�, Mira turns Gordon Covington down. But then she loses both her job and her place to live over the next few days, so she decides to take a chance on Sourwood, KY, and Gordon. In 1910, there are no roads into Sourwood, no electricity or running water, and not much welcome for outsiders. But Mira finds purpose in caring for an orphan girl and a widow, even as she has to take on school bullies and their parents. As Mira and Gordon try to win over Sourwood, their marriage of convenience grows into something more. VERDICT Readers interested in the hardscrabble mountain life, as depicted in Michelle Shocklee's Appalachian Song and Lynn Austin's Wonderland Creek, will want to add the latest from Gabhart (In the Shadow of the River) to their TBR lists.
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