When Hope Calls

From the author of the Amazon bestseller of the Resilient Women of WWII trilogy. If love is the only true gift, why doesn't everyone grab hold and never let go? Fanny may be a small-town defense attorney in upstate New York, but it's 1961 with growing opportunities for women. She's not about to listen to naysayers who encourage her to marry and to stay at home and raise a family. Fanny meets Gina, whose husband Kenny is pinned by society as a lesser man because of his limited intelligence. When Kenny is accused of murder, Fanny takes on the case. Gina hopes for her grandmother's support, but a hidden act of betrayal during the WWII years when Gina and her grandmother lived in Berlin, Germany, threatens to unsettle Gina and destabilize the case Fanny is building on behalf of Kenny. Set against the backdrop of the construction of the Berlin Wall, The Last Secret Kept explores the beauty of individualism while demolishing the invisible walls built between ourselves and our loved ones.

As a young girl, Lillian Walsh lost both her parents and a younger sister. Now in her twenties, after enduring the death of her adoptive mother, Lillian must find her place in the world. Just as her adoptive father is leaving for an extended trip to his native Wales, a lawyer appears at the door to inform Lillian that she has inherited a small estate from her birth parents-and that the sister she had long believed dead is likely alive. When she discovers that her sister Grace is living in a city not far away, Lillian rushes to a reunion, fearful that the years of separation will make it hard to reconnect. When the two sisters meet, Grace is not at all what Lillian expected to find. Even though her circumstances have been difficult, Grace has big dreams. Can Lillian set aside her own plans to join her sister in an adventure that will surely change them both?

So much has been accomplished. Lillian Walsh has stepped out courageously beyond what she'd ever dreamed of being able to achieve. Two years ago, she was an only child, living in a big house with her adoptive parents. Now, she shares the large home with her newly rediscovered sister, Grace, and the orphaned children to whom Grace has devoted her life. But then the letter arrives-an official complaint revoking the sisters' permission to manage their little children's home. An untimely winter trip across the prairie is necessary to defend their reputation and to repent from their well-intentioned lie. And Walter, who was once merely Lillian's childhood friend, is now her staunch support, transporting them all and standing beside them in their present trial. However, another wave is coming. More children are being sent, escorted by an unlikely advocate, a British sailor who once ran away from home. Ebenezer Waldin's scarred heart softens to the children's plight-even to the point of breaking rules. Will there be consequences? And will there be a loving place for all of them once they arrive in the West?

Lillian Walsh and Grace Bennett have learned so much already about caring for children in distress. It hasn't been easy, but it becomes even more difficult when they suddenly discover that three children have run away. Concerned for the trio's safety, the sisters will do all they can to find the children. But the runaways are not the only thing putting the future of the children's home in question. Lillian is faced with choosing between her dreams with fiancé Walter and her commitment to her sister. Steady Ben Waldin is keen to find where his family settled in Canada and to give little Janie a place to permanently call home. And the sisters receive a pair of surprise visitors that leave them and their family uncertain. As each of the people invested in the children's home seek to determine their paths forward, they begin to realize that sometimes loving well means making difficult choices.