Women of the West (Oke)

She feels God nudging her toward ministry, but what options are there for a young single woman? Emily Evans has a hard time getting herself to class on time, much less figuring out God's will for her life. Then, to her surprise, she feels that God is calling her into full-time Christian service. She expects the Lord will also provide her with a companion to share her life and ministry, but Emily does not want to marry any of the available young men. She squares her shoulders and decides she will accept the task of opening a new church in a pioneer community--alone. When Emily arrives at her new assignment, she is disappointed to find the church building in disrepair. After many days of hard work fixing it up, she announces her first service and is once again disappointed, this time in the size of her congregation. Is her faith strong enough to stand against the local doubters and myriad challenges that will test her calling?

The only thing she has left is her faith in God. . . . Is it enough? With the closing of the Calder Springs' timber mill, most of the town's residents are left unemployed. Several families, realizing the lack of a future in the small mountain town, soon decide to relocate. But not the Harrigan family. Although John has lost his job at the mill, he and his wife, Julia, make the decision to stay in their beautiful home with their twin daughters. Eastern-educated Julia searches for a way to bring business and people back to Calder Springs--a task she feels God leading her to accomplish. Will her faith and determination carry her through the challenges and setbacks she'll face?

She's cared for her siblings as best she could . . . but is it enough? Instead of the new life she and her family expected to forge out west, seventeen-year-old Angela is thrust into the role of caring for her three younger siblings after the death of their parents. With the help of her older brother, and trust in God, Angela is determined to raise the children as her mother would have wanted. As the youngsters grow, the questions and challenges intensify. Angela feels trapped and overwhelmed. Surely no man will ever want a woman who comes with three children in tow. Is this the plan God has for her life? Will she ever find a way to balance her own dreams with the promises she made to her mama?

Damaris escapes her father's drunken abuse, but she can't seem to escape her profound loneliness. Does the Bible hold the answer to both that and the question of why she is A Woman Named Damaris?

Eastern socialite Cassandra Dell Winston was willing to travel to the ends of the earth to be with her husband, Dr. Samuel Smith. But it was still a shock when Sam took her west to a rustic frontier town--the place where They Called Her Mrs. Doc.

Everyone knows that Anna Trent is a woman of worth. Everyone except Anna, that is. The oldest child in a farming family, Anna feels fortunate to have received an education. She loved school, loved to learn, loved the excitement of discovery. But now, as she graduates at age sixteen, it looks like all that is over. Then Austin Barker comes to town to fill the pastorate for the summer months. The young seminarian is captured by Anna's intense desire to learn. Through his books and correspondence, Anna's education continues to expand, and the sweet country girl grows into a lovely young woman. Still, Anna is shocked when Austin asks her to marry him. Why would he choose her? If only her feelings of inadequacy and self-consciousness would go away . . .

Responding to an Advertisement, She Crossed an Ocean to Meet a Total Stranger and Became a Mail-Order Bride...Kathleen O'Malley stood on the deck of the Barreth Lily and watched the land she'd called home for more than a dozen years slip from her view. She had thought she would be glad to see the last of it, but she was not. Emotions in turmoil, her whole being yearned to slip from the ship and return to what she knew. Even though Kathleen had not been happy with her situation, it was all she had ever known. As the shoreline faded into the morning mist, her only certainty was that she was bound for America to marry a man whose name she did not even know and whose face she had never seen.On the other side of the Atlantic, Donnigan Harrison anxiously awaits Kathleen's arrival on a prairie farm far from her port of arrival in Boston. He has known the wonder of a dream fulfilled--a snug frame cabin, the sturdy log barn and outbuildings, a fine herd of livestock, and crops in the field that made his eyes sparkle. Yet Donnigan felt a loneliness on the western frontier that pierced his very soul. With so limited opportunities for finding a wife, the notion of ordering a wife that once seemed unthinkable had come to make some sense. Now that the time has come, Donnigan feels like a small boy waiting for Christmas.But Donnigan's anticipation is overshadowed with terrifying uncertainties--What have I done?

In Heart of the Wilderness, young Kendra Marty goes to live with her grandfather after her parents die in a river accident. But what can a trapper living in the backwoods offer a small child? Will Kendra ever be ready to face the scary and confusing world far from the wilderness she loves?

She made the difficult decision with only her daughter's best interest in mind . . . but did she sacrifice too much? When her husband dies, Sarah Perry is left with no way to support herself and her daughter, Rebecca. Reluctantly, she takes over operation of her husband's freight-hauling business, managing to save enough money to send Rebecca east to a boarding school-- to an easier life and a future Sarah could not provide. With the boarding-school fees consuming Sarah's savings, there is no money left for trips home. Over the years, the chasm between mother and daughter becomes much more than geographical distance, and when Rebecca finally returns home, it seems that she and her mother are from different worlds. What hope is there of breaking down the enormous barriers between them?

Sometimes she wished she was an only child . . . "She's lovely! Look at those curls. Those blue eyes. She's just beautiful!" Berta was used to hearing comments like that. But they were not about her. . . . Whenever ladies came to the house or met her mother on the street, they exclaimed over Berta's little sister, Glenna. Somewhere along the way, Berta decided that whatever Glenna was, she would not be. Whatever Glenna did, she would not do. Whatever Glenna liked, she would not like. She would be the opposite. Sure enough, Glenna is sparkling, vivacious, outgoing, and adored, while Berta is serious, dependable, and prim. Their relationship grows more and more distant until, finally, Berta must look into her heart and discover what truly has caused the rift between them.

Ariana loves her life as a schoolteacher in a little frontier town. But one evening after classes are done and she prepares to hurry home, her life changes in an instant when a band of rough outlaws abduct her and take her far away from all she has ever known. Trapped in a small shack, Ariana prays and waits, her emotions swinging between terror and boredom as days stretch into weeks. Still, the outlaws refuse to tell her why they've taken her or what they plan to do. Then the boss's son appears in the doorway of her cabin. He seems different from the others, but can she trust him? Will she ever again see her mother and father, the couple who lovingly adopted her and raised her as their own? Will she ever wear the beautiful wedding dress so carefully saved for her--her one remaining link to her birth parents?

The stillness of the mountains, the pines covering the hillsides, the gurgle of the spring... this was her home... The prairie fires that sweep the grazing lands, the coming of white men with their guns and diseases, and the quick slaughter of the vast buffalo herds leave Running Fawn's Blackfoot tribe with little choice but to take up residence on the assigned Reserve. All her life, Running Fawn has known only contentment, but now what will become of her hopes and dreams? The Chief's son, Silver Fox, and Running Fawn are chosen to attend classes at the Mission Boarding School in Calgary. The white man's way of life isn't the only thing confusing to Running Fawn; the white man's God both frightens and intrigues her. Could this God indeed be the creator of the land she loves so dearly? Will she be forced to choose between the ways of her people and the man she loves?