Mountain Women Series

Untrue things are rumored of May Rose, but it's true she's too pretty for her own good. Her husband has disappeared, and now she's on her own in a rough town ruled by one of the lumber companies logging the last of West Virginia's virgin forest. The year is 1899, and a woman alone has few options.

When feisty Wanda Wyatt is left widowed, penniless, and disturbed by recent fits of rage, she turns to the one person she hates - her grandmother, ex-moonshiner Lucie Bosell. Lured by a vague invitation, she travels back to her mountain roots with two goals in mind: money and revenge. But at what cost? Prohibition has come to West Virginia, and with moonshine worth more than ever, Lucie wants in on the action. Playing along, Wanda finds that being as mean and deceptive as Granny hurts her chances with a compelling man from her past.

Fifteen years have passed with only the exchange of letters among three families connected by love and misfortune. Now remnants of these families reunite when May Rose follows her reckless stepdaughter, Wanda, to a West Virginia ghost town. The town has not been kind to either woman, but Wanda is determined to go back and capture the heart of a man who rejected her. Barlow Townsend has come into May Rose's life again, yet, like her, he is constrained by guilt.

In 1918, Winkler explodes from a community of 13 helpful souls to a crowded coal mining town of strangers with divided loyalties. War in faraway Europe means more money in the pockets of May Rose and her friends, but as a new wife and mother she feels cut off from people and community events. And though mine owners like her husband are making money hand over fist, the workers' poverty and resentment threaten trouble when the war ends.

Dreams can become nightmares. May Rose has the husband, family, and boardinghouse she wanted, but managing business and doing her best for loved ones make challenging days and troubled nights. Now her husband is ailing, someone from the past is trying to find her, and malicious guests are poised to ruin her reputation. Sadly, blood is not always thicker than water.