I really loved this one! The characters have so much depth to them, and I found myself thinking about them even when I wasn't reading! So much going on too! Never boring! — Jackie Logue, Owner JML Copyediting Services. Reading your words, I was stunned at your personal rendition of the setting and situation, as if you had lived it in detail. — D. Hartley A character-driven story of redemption --- An episodic, historical novel filled with adventure, forbidden love, second chances, and the value of having a best friend. A Confederate soldier's journals are found hidden away, and they document why he deserted and his amazing journey across North America in the early 1860s from the battlefield of Manassas, Virginia to San Francisco, California. Temple Hamilton was on a quest to escape his past. But even 3,000 miles away in San Francisco and the small gold-mining community of Angels Camp, it was going to be a difficult task, perhaps impossible. You, the reader, can cozy up with a cup of hot chocolate and roll along with a wagon train carrying pioneering settlers and gold seekers, meet some scoundrels and the woman he falls for but can't have, receive a chilling fortune teller's prediction, befriend a Zen Monk, assist a pompous Italian tenor, help a group of circus performers, engage in mind-games with a Chinatown madam, lurk in a dirty alley as a secret murder unfolds, and so much more. Enjoy a lively adventure set in a time that no longer exists. Previously titled "Hidden Journals."