The Canadian Prairies in 1898 are no place for women with a mind of their own. But the brave and determined females in Western Prairie Brides find ingenious ways to defy what society decrees for them. Annie dares to marry a man she’s never met in order to save her deaf sister’s life, That sister, Betsy, becomes a successful photographer as well as a beloved wife and mother. Her daughters defy convention, training as doctors and teachers. Their friend Rose publishes a lonely heart’s newsletter. And somehow, in the midst of their careers, they all manage to fall in love with the most unlikely–but perfect for them–men.
If you adore strong, sassy, determined women, you’ll love Western Prairie Brides.
Book 1
Lantern in the Window
Ever wondered what it might be like to be a mail-order bride? Or the groom, already married to a woman he’s never laid eyes on?
On the Canadian prairies in 1886, having a mail-order romance wasn’t unusual.
Noah Ferguson desperately needs help on his farm.
Annie Tompkins knows she can’t go on working in Lazenby’s cotton mill. Her little sister Betsy will die if they stay there. So she’s been a little less than honest in her letters to Noah. Is that really so terrible?
It’s unforgivable, Noah fumes. He wanted an older widow, and Annie is a young virgin. But even that isn’t the full extent of her lies.
Problem is, Noah hasn’t exactly been straight with Annie, either, and his secret has the power to break Annie’s heart.
Can time and even a special Christmas gift make their marriage work?
This is a standalone story, a mail-order brides western romance.
Author Interview
What made you write this series, Bobby?
My mother grew up on the Canadian prairie, and she was a storyteller. She told me tales of mail-order brides, the heartbreak, and sometimes the success of such marriages. I was–and still am–fascinated by the brave people who took such chances.
Who’s your favourite character in Lantern In The Window?
That would be Betsy. She has difficult problems to overcome. And she’s the main character in the second of the series, SILENT LIGHT, SILENT LOVE.
Book 2
Silent Light, Silent Love
It’s 1896 on the Canadian prairies, and Betsy Tompkins wants to be a photographer. Western prairie women have two choices: marry, and be a wife, or stay single, and be a spinster.
Betsy knows the spinster option is the only one for her. She’s deaf, and hearing men live in a different world. Also, wives simply don’t have careers–they cook, clean, and raise children.
Sergeant James Macleod of the North West Mounted has a troubling secret. Leaving his native Scotland was a painful and life-changing choice, and he feels he can’t go back. He’s determined to make a new life for himself on the Canadian prairies.
He’d like a wife and a family, but eligible women are scarce, and he’s an educated man.
He’s just doing his job when he meets Betsy, but suddenly he sees his future in a whole new light. He wants her to be his bride. James must honor his commitment to keep the peace on the wild Canadian prairie, even though it takes him far away from Betsy and endangers his very life.
But he finds a friend who’ll help him bring peace to his own troubled soul. The question is, will he lose Betsy in the process?
Author Interview
How did you come to write this book?
My mother was born on the Canadian prairies and she told me stories about the women and men who homesteaded there. My son is deaf, and I imagined what it would have been like to be a deaf woman in those early times.
Betsy was familiar to me; she made her appearance in Lantern In The Window, the first of the Western Prairie Brides series, and she was so brave and smart and sassy, I knew she needed a book of her own.
Book 3
Medicine Woman
Every Dream Has A Price – and for Doctor Mary Ferguson, that price is high.
It’s 1908 on the western prairie, and Mary has attained her dream. She’s one of the first women doctors, and she’s struggling hard for acceptance. The choices are clear cut–pursue her hard earned career, or fall in love and follow her heart. At this time and in this place, women can’t have both. But when she meets David, a man trying to find balance between his Indian mother and his white father, she longs for more. David is returning to his people on the western prairies. He doesn’t fully understand how the way of life he remembers from when he was a child has changed. Government policies have forced his Blackfoot people onto reserves, and there are troubling laws being enforced. He thinks longingly of Mary, but he’s sure their lives are too disparate to ever come together.
This is the third stand alone book in the Western Prairie Brides Series, which began with Lantern In The Window. Mary’s mother Annie was a mail order bride. She married Noah sight unseen. LANTERN IN THE WINDOW tells their love story. Mary is their oldest child. Annie’s sister Bets is deaf. Her romance with a handsome and conflicted North West Mounted policeman is told in SILENT LIGHT, SILENT LOVE.
Author Interview
Why did you write this particular book?
My mother grew up on the Canadian prairies. I asked her once if there were any women doctors, and she shook her head. “Oh no, no one would have trusted a woman doctor in those days. Women got married, raised a family, cooked, cleaned.” When I researched the early 1900’s, I came across a horrifying government decree dealing with the native tribes. So what could I do but put these two situations together?
Who’s your favorite character in Medicine Woman?
That would be Magpie, the impossible little boy who trails around after David in the Blackfoot village. I fell in love with him because he refused to be a small sub character in the story. He demanded that he have an important role, the scamp! I tried to incorporate romance, history, tragedy and laughter in this historical medical romance.
Book 4
Darling Clementine
Object Matrimony!
On the western prairie in 1898, Rose’s mail-order brides and grooms matchmaking business is attracting more men than women. The gentlemen know what they want–homemakers, motherly beauties who play the pianoforte and sing, gals who love to cook. So what’s Rose to do with a formidable female whose specialty is shoeing horses and shooting a gun?
CLEMENTINE IS NOT A WOMANLY WOMAN.
She’s downright scary. Rose has only one unlikely gentleman who just might be right for her. Will the Colonel and Clementine be happy ever after? Or will the bride shoot the groom?
BULLETS FLY AND SURPRISES ABOUND IN THIS FUNNY, SWEET HISTORICAL ROMANCE.
The second book in Rose’s Mail Order Brides and Grooms short read romance series.
Author Interview
What made you write Darling Clementine?
I find books about brave, daring women living long ago fascinating, especially the ones who dared to follow their destiny, to become career women in the face of public disapproval, to take chances with their lives, whether it was agreeing to marry a man they’d never met or setting up a business of their own. And I love reading about the heroes of that day, like Wild Bill Hickock and his Wild West Show. I enjoy using snippets of real-life events and weaving them into my make-believe world. And of course Rose appeared as a minor character in several of my other books, A Lantern In The Window, and Silent Light, Silent Love. I felt she needed a series of her own. I hope you enjoy her spirit and her touch of zaniness.
Who’s your favorite character in this short western romance?
That would have to be the intrepid Colonel. What’s not to love about a guy who’ll go to any lengths to find the woman he loves?
FIND OUT WHY DARLING CLEMENTINE IS ANYTHING BUT!
Book 5
Rose’s Mail Order Brides and Grooms: Object Matrimony
What If A Bride Needs A Mail Order Husband?
It’s 1898 on the Canadian prairie, and women’s roles are strict and well defined. But Rose is determined her friend Esther won’t be shamed and left in the lurch. All she needs to locate Esther’s beloved, Gabriel, is an arrest warrant from the North West Mounted. Not exactly mail order, but effective, nonetheless. But will Esther’s father greet Gabriel with a shotgun?
Esther’s father is also Rose’s boss, and he’s anything but pleased at Rose’s plotting. Will she lose her job? Rose is relying on the new Reverend, Joel, to keep order and bloodshed down to a minimum. And she’s also finding him unnervingly attractive. But Rose has a dark secret that will prevent any romance with a reverend.
WILL TRUE LOVE TRIUMPH? CAN ROSE’S PLAN RESULT IN HAPPILY EVER AFTER?
She doesn’t know what will come of her plans for Esther, but she does know she absolutely loves the danger, uncertainty and intrigue that comes with matching up woman and men, object–matrimony. She can see the potential for a business if she dares to flout convention and become a business woman at a time when women’s roles are strictly confined to marriage and raising a family.
IS SHE BRAVE ENOUGH TO VENTURE INTO A CAREER?
Enjoy this clean historical short read, the first of three.
Author Interview
What made you write Object Matrimony?
There’s a conversation going on about whether women have achieved parity with men. We’ve come a long way, and we probably have a long way to go. But reading about women who lived in the late 1800’s really brought home to me how far we have come. And I love books about brave, daring women living long ago who had the courage to follow their own destiny, to become career women in the face of public disapproval, to take chances with their lives, whether it was agreeing to marry a man they’d never met or setting up a business of their own. Rose appeared in one of my other books, A Lantern In The Window, and I felt she needed a series of her own. I hope you enjoy her spirit and her touch of zaniness.
Who’s your favorite character in this book?
Besides Rose, I love Aunt Harriet. She, too, made her first appearance in A Lantern In The Window. She’s the kind of aunt every gal needs, loving, supportive and non-judgmental – and she adores a bit of excitement and intrigue. I wish I had an Aunt Harriet!
Book 6
Tangled Lives
Ever had times when nothing is going the way you think it should?
That’s what happens in this historical romance. Rose’s Mail Order Brides and Grooms business, Object Matrimony, is becoming successful, but ironically Rose’s own romances seem to be failures. Why did Philip, the man she loved and thought she’d marry, desert her and leave town without a single word? Now he’s back and Rose is furious with him.
She’s also horrified when he reveals a secret that can impact Joel, the new man in her life. But she has business to think of, a difficult match to arrange for a young woman in double trouble.
Laughter, tears and betrayal–Tangled Lives has all three. If you love western historical romance and mail order bride stories, you’ll love Tangled Lives.
Author Interview
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE TANGLED LIVES?
Life is made up of complications, just as the best books are. I love reading books in which I can’t guess what’s going to happen next. I hope I’ve managed that in Tangled Lives.I also believe in the inherent goodness in people’s hearts. If we delve deep enough into a situation, we can usually see what makes a person do what they do. This is a sweet western prairie romance. I hope you enjoy!
Prequel
Annie’s Letter
1885: WIFE WANTED, OLDER WOMAN, MUST HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF HOUSEWIFERY AND FARMING. OBJECT, MATRIMONY.
Annie answered Noah’s newspaper ad for a mail order wife because her deaf sister, Bets, was going to die if she went on working in Lazenby’s Cotton Mill.
Annie’s landlady, Elinora Potts, assured Annie that the not-so-little lies she told in her letters were necessary.
Does the end ever justify the means?
Elinora is certain it does.
BUT ANNIE IS TERRIFIED.
What will happen to her and Bets when Noah finds out the truth?
Historical Novellas
Once Upon A Christmas
Four nostalgic, heart-warming Christmas romances to curl up with and enjoy.
ANNIE’S LETTER: (prequel to Lantern In The Window)
1885–WIFE WANTED, OLDER WOMAN, MUST HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF HOUSEWIFERY AND FARMING. OBJECT, MATRIMONY.
Annie answered Noah’s newspaper ad for a mail order wife because her deaf sister, Bets, was going to die if she went on working in Lazenby’s Cotton Mill.
Annie’s landlady, Elinora Potts, assured Annie that the not-so-little lies she told in her letters were necessary.
Does the end ever justify the means?
Elinora is certain it does.
BUT ANNIE IS TERRIFIED.
What will happen to her and Bets when Noah finds out the truth?
LANTERN IN THE WINDOW
Annie, a young, desperate mail-order bride, who’s never laid eyes on a cow, marries Noah, a farmer who advertises for an experienced, older farm woman. And she also doesn’t mention that her deaf sister is part of the bargain.
But Noah isn’t honest either. His old, sick father needs cared for–and even Noah can’t deal with the old man’s anger and violence.
Needed-one big Christmas miracle!
CAROL’S CHRISTMAS
December 23, 1914, in a small coal mining town deep in the Canadian Rockies.
What changes can a faraway war bring to a tiny coal mining town, and the woman who’s struggling to know herself?
Carol, with her two beautiful babies and the husband she adores, can’t help but envy Julia, the mysterious woman next door, who seems to have no worries about money.
Carol invites Julia and her husband to Christmas Eve supper, and learns that how others live might not be what she yearns for.
SNOW KISSED CHRISTMAS
1903 IN A WESTERN COAL MINING TOWN
Christmas Eve, snow, a new baby coming—and no money.
Deep in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Anna lives with her husband, William, and her two young children, Sophie, 7, and Thomas, 5.
The underground coal mine where William works isn’t operating full time, and although they’ve made toys for Sophie and Thomas, Anna is frightened and sad, worried for her beloved family.
It’s snowing hard, and the world feels bleak and joyless.
It would take a miracle to make this stormy Christmas merry.
Sometimes miracles can come in the most remarkable fashion.
And sometimes the angels that bring them are the most unlikely.