Mountain Women

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. Worse, the old woman's high-stakes business attracts ruthless people and big trouble. Wanda learns the hard way-revenge is cold comfort.

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. A town of three households offers little to sustain them, but a looming war in Europe promises prosperity in the form of black gold. To restore the town and remake their lives, all who return will have to break the chains of the past.

In 1918, Winkler explodes from a community of thirteen 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. Before that happens, the town will be struck by an epidemic, and May Rose and the women who've helped each other through desperate times will face challenges as divisive and deadly as war.

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.