The engaging village of Candlewood in 1840s New York provides a glimpse into the past that will inspire and uplift today's readers. Fifty-one-year-old Emma Garrett runs Hill House, a boardinghouse on a hill at the edge of town. Emma ministers to her guests, both the transient and those who call Hill House home. Gifted with an uncanny ability to see the unique strengths of her guests, Emma serves and challenges them with homespun wisdom and absolute...

Emma Garrett is eagerly anticipating the arrival of spring, when her family plans to reunite in Candlewood. Together they will celebrate her birthday at Hill House, the boardinghouse she oversees. Though anxious to introduce her sons to Zachary Breckenwith, the man she's been courting, her sons' own problems--and wounds deeply hidden since childhood--soon overshadow her joy. As Zachary presses Emma for an answer to his marriage proposal, her initial...