Annie squeezed Rufus’s hand, free of doubt and full of certainty that she had indeed come to this moment by faith and prayer.
Author’s Note
The Valley of Choice series began with imagining the lives of people who lived three centuries ago and discovering a personal connection to them. This third story in the set comes closer to me generationally. The historical thread is based on what happened to my grandfather’s grandfather, the first sheriff of Baxter County, surrounded by some embellished historical characters and a cast of people who never lived but might have. And now I’ve come to the end of the three stories feeling enriched by this foray into history and reflecting on the themes that follow us through the centuries and into our contemporary lives. Anger. Hurt. Grief. Vengeance. Forgiveness. Love.
I have again taken liberties with the region around Westcliffe, Colorado, in creating this confluence of what might have happened long ago and what might yet be waiting to greet us in our lives as we confront these same themes. May you name these experiences as they occur in the circumstances of your life—as they do for all of us—and find the blessing of stepping into a land of grace.
Olivia Newport’s novels twist through time to find where faith and passions meet. Her husband and two twenty-something children provide welcome distraction from the people stomping through her head on their way into her books. She chases joy in stunning Colorado at the foot of the Rockies, where daylilies grow as tall as she is.
Coming soon from Olivia Newport:
Wonderful Lonesome
Amish Turns of Time
Book 1
In a struggling Amish settlement on the harsh Colorado plain, Abbie Weaver refuses to concede defeat to hail, drought, and coyotes even as families begin to give up and return east.
When Abbie discovers the root of a spiritual divide that runs through the settlement, she faces her own decisions about what she believes. She must choose between a quiet love in her cherished church, passion with a man determined to leave the church, or learning to imagine her life with neither.
Summer 2014
Taken for English Page 33
