Love's Reckoning

August 1, 2012
Eden Lee is the daughter of Liege Lee, a bullying blacksmith, and Louise, a meek mother. Eden's father is so awful that the last two apprentices have quit, but there's a new one, Silas Ballantyne, on the way. It's 1784 in Pennsylvania, and Silas' contract, as is the common practice, includes marriage to the master's daughter. Eden's chronically hateful sister, Elspeth, is pregnant by an unknown villager. So Eden's father has decreed that the determining factor in deciding who gets to be the bride will be whether or not the baby has arrived by the time Silas shows up. Eden and Silas end up falling in love, but their road to happiness has one roadblock after another. The emotional conflicts, historical setting in a very new America, and well-defined characters in Frantz's faith-based historical romance will appeal to a wide readership.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)