When Andrew becomes ill and is in need of his surgeon son's skills, and his daughter's quest for privacy advances an evil man's schemes, newcomer Jewel Libby becomes an unexpected support and source of strength to the family. Original. Single mother Jewel Libby has a dead-end job, day-care problems, and a pedophile for a landlord. As difficult as it would be in today’s world, Jewel’s prospects seem hopeless in 1884 in Birmingham, England, where she sews corsets in a Dickensian factory. Living in the vicarage of the picturesque dairy village of Gresham Green, writer Adela Phelps loves her big, noisy family but needs quiet to work. As she moves to a forest cottage, Jewel, concerned for the safely of her daughter, flees the city and seeks sanctuary in Gresham Green. However, evil can exist in even the most idyllic little town. Blackwell skillfully reveals the good, bad, beautiful, and ugly aspects of life in nineteenth-century England, creating a well-written, faith-based book that doesn’t get bogged down in didacticism or dogma, making it appealing to a broad audience. A nice addition to Blackwell’s Gresham Chronicles (The Widow of Larkspur Inn, 1998; The Courtship of the Vicar’s Daughter, 1998; The Dowry of Miss Lydia Clark, 1999). --Shelley Mosley Will this quaint village be the safe haven her heart craves? To protect her precious daughter from the danger nipping at their heels, Jewel Libby must flee the only home she's ever known. Caring friends direct her to the vicarage in the peaceful dairy village of Gresham, but she arrives there to find Vicar Andrew Phelps and his wife immersed in troubles of their own. Their son Philip, a successful London surgeon, has a controlling wife who resents his close family ties. And daughter Aleda lives in a cottage on the outskirts of Gresham, where she adamantly pursues her writing career and her solitude... often to the exclusion of others. When Andrew becomes ill and in need of his son's skills, and Aleda's quest for privacy unwittingly advances an evil man's schemes, Jewel finds the tables turned... she is the one offering support and a source of strength. But an unlikely romance is about to change everything... Lawana Blackwell has eleven published novels to her credit. She and her husband have three married sons and live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Visit Lawana's Web site at www.lawanablackwell.com Used Book in Good Condition