Frank Boyd found the hazy but bright Atlantic morning most invigorating as he stepped upon the deck. Unbeknownst to him, not far away on this same immigrant ship travelled his future English bride. Frank and Estelle Tompkins decided to marry and undertake this new challenge of life in America together. They travelled the expanse of a great new land, taking their first-born with them. Their new perspective could not have been better, nor more promising, in sunny California. With the arrival of their angelic and blue-eyed, golden-haired Mary, it seemed that life was nearly at optimum for the Boyds - but then the crash of '29 altered their lives forever. It was onward to Oregon where an unkindly fate awaited the young Scotsman. Devastated and shattered, Estelle and her children came to know and love the mysterious Sam Jennings and his Indian friends, as well as the young cowboy Bob Clemm. In addition, an all-new arena opened to Mary Boyd when Demon entered her world and she became a renowned rodeo trick rider with no peers. "Well, you chose to be a rodeo star," Bob uttered as she rose to disengage him. And so Mary risked losing her first love to cousin Jennifer Tompkins. However, the war came and changed many lives: Cowboy Clemm, now turned marine, had to depart from those women he loved so well; and Mary's new course with the rodeo circuit had its own betrayal and pitfalls. The road back to Oregon was tiring and chancy for Mary who must now rid herself of the effects of forced passion, an unwanted child, even at the risk of her own life. In the heart and warm eyes of Jim Warren, Mary found the refuge that she so sorely needed at the nadir of her life. But her respite would be all too brief as the cold Nebraska winter spent its course. Mary, to her sorrow, learned of her brother's grim sacrifice, but now with her and Bob's love rekindled Mary must keep the faith as she reassembled her life once again in Oregon. With her brother torn from her life, a new miracle arrived in the form of Billy's unmarried Filipino "wife". Along with the beautiful Rosa Santos came Billy's son, and another obligation that only Mary's husband, Bob Clemm, could fulfill. As Mary basked in the warmth of her adventurous memories, she awaited the arrival of her first son, knowing that she had been to the greatest heights and the darkest depths, and yet emerged a star and a winner in so many ways.

All of the previous 9 books I have written are about a family and their friends, who are scattered all around the country and Scotland. They seldom see each other except at the annual family reunion, Book 10 brings these people together for their final reunion in the territory of Wyoming the first week of October, 1959. Some come from Scotland by ship, join others in NYC, ride a train to Omaha, and a stagecoach to Wyoming. Others riding a train from western Virginia mountains, joined them in Pittsburg. Some came by wagon train from western Kentucky.

China Interrupted is the story of the richly interwoven lives of Canadian missionaries and their China-born children (mishkids), whose lives and mission were irreversibly altered by their internment as “enemy aliens” of Japan from 1941 to 1945. Over three hundred Canadians were among the 13,000 civilians interned by the Japanese in China. China Interrupted explores the experiences of a small community of Canadian missionaries who worked in Japanese-occupied China and were profoundly affected by Canada’s entry into the Pacific War. It critically examines the fading years of the missionary movement, beginning with the perspective of Betty Gale and other mishkid nurses whose childhood socialization in China, decision to return during wartime, choice to stay in occupied regions against consular advice, and response to four years of internment reflect the resilience, fragility, and eventual demise of the China missions as a whole. China Interrupted provides insight into the many ways in which health care efforts in wartime China extended out of the tight-knit missionary community that had been established there decades earlier. Urging readers past a thesis of missions as a tool of imperialism, it offers a more nuanced way of thinking about the relationships among people, institutions, and nations during one of the most important intercultural experiments in Canada’s history.

During a rare white Christmas at Brambledean Court, the widow Elizabeth, Lady Overfield, defies convention by falling in love with a younger man in this historical romance novel in the Westcott series. After her husband's passing, Elizabeth Overfield decides that she must enter into another suitable marriage. That, however, is the last thing on her mind when she meets Colin Handrich, Lord Hodges, at the Westcott Christmas house party. She simply enjoys his company as they listen to carolers on Christmas Eve, walk home from church together on Christmas morning, and engage in a spirited snowball fight in the afternoon. Both are surprised when their sled topples them into a snowbank and they end up sharing an unexpected kiss. They know there is no question of any relationship between them, for she is nine years older than he. They return to London the following Season, both committed to finding other, more suitable matches. Still they agree to share one waltz at each ball they attend. This innocuous agreement proves to be one that will topple their worlds, as each dance steadily ensnares them in a romance that forces the two to question what they are willing to sacrifice for love. . . .

'Somewhere in this world, in this lifetime, there is a place of simple things, of sitting beside a fire with friends, good company, quietly talking, no formidable decisions, no explanations, no threat, no guilt, no anguish. These are the days for walking on country roads.' From iconic author and patron of the Arts, Barbara Blackman, comes All My Januaries, a new collection of insightful and inspirational personal essays.