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I have written a trilogy that comes straight from my heart and from my own family history. You will discover a legacy passed down through several generations of women quilters, stories of tender love, tragedy, and loss, and a passion for living life on their own terms.
In Book One, you will meet Hannah, who becomes the matriarch of a large and loving family and whose legacy of quilting is passed down through five generations.
In Book Two, meet Sarah, Hannah's impulsive daughter, who, against her parents' wishes, goes off to forge a new life in the Arizona Territories.
Book Three is the story of Becca, Hannah's great-great-granddaughter, who transforms Hannah's legacy into a beautiful and vibrant new future."
After the Storm
This historical novel shares the unforgettable story of a 19th-century quilter through some of the most challenging times in American history. This story is told "in her own words" through a lifetime of diary entries and a memoir she dictated to a granddaughter shortly before her death. Hannah Applegate Benson Stone weathered many personal storms in her life yet found strength in her family, friends, and community. Orphaned very young during the tumultuous years of the Civil War and raised by a caring aunt in a small New England farming community, she grew from a frightened child to a confident woman and successful quilt pattern designer. This fictional memoir is based on many of the author's own life experiences and those of her family transposed to another time. They will mourn and rejoice with Hannah as she loses her first love but finds new love with her second, in this timeless story of loss and renewal. Readers who enjoyed novels by Nancy Turner: "These is My Words," "Sarah's Quilt," "The Star Garden" and "Resolute," will enjoy this one as well
Sarah's Quest
Against her parent's wishes, Sarah Benson leaves behind her stifling family home in New Hampshire. She boards the train heading west in 1898 with James, a man she loves but barely knows. With the idealism and naivety of youth, they leave everything behind for a life-changing adventure in the Arizona Frontier. On the way, Sarah reveals that she is pregnant. When they arrive in Flagstaff, they marry. Soon a rancher offers James and Sarah work on an isolated ranch. Sarah grows to love her independence and the wide-open skies of the west, but James's drinking and gambling cause a rift between them. After her daughter is born, her marriage begins to unravel, and James becomes violent. Sarah flees to her parents but realizes that New Hampshire is no longer where she belongs. A yearning for the west and the possibility to live free and love again takes her back to Arizona for a final confrontation with James and the chance to build a life she can embrace on her own terms. This is the second book in a historical fiction series, Hannah's Legacy. Readers who enjoyed the novels of Nancy Turner, Janette Oke, Kristin Hannah and Robyn Carr, will love this story.
Becca's Story
Becca grew up in a family struggling to work through their grief after a tragedy. She felt invisible and alone. The one bright spot in her life was her grandmother with whom she spent her summers while growing up. It was her grandmother who taught Becca to sew and to quilt and left her a beautiful antique treadle sewing machine. When she later attends art school, Becca begins to find herself and her "tribe." As she approaches her 30th birthday, Becca yearns for something more in her life. She is bored and frustrated. Her relationship with her mother, with whom she shares ownership of a high-end art and craft gallery, is difficult and stressful. Her saving grace is her best friend, Ashlyn, and the other members of her Cambridge Creative Quilters' bee. Curious about what she can learn from the generations before her, Becca sets out on an adventure to visit a Queen Ann Victorian home in a small New Hampshire town built by her great great grandfather in the 1890s. What Becca discovers is more than she could have ever dreamed of — lost family secrets, a new love, and a new purpose for her life, while following in the footsteps of her ancestors.
The Journey Behind the Words
When I was growing up, I spent every summer with my family at our 'summer place' a
log cabin on a lovely small lake near the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This
place is central to my heart and became the inspiration and setting for all three of my
historical novels in the "Hannah's Legacy" trilogy. I transposed the setting to the 19th
century and created a compelling family saga that spans the years from the Civil War to
the present. If you enjoy stories about strong, creative women who face life's storms and create meaningful lives for themselves and their families, you will enjoy this trilogy.
Look for "After the Storm, the story of Hannah Applegate Benson", Sarah's
Quest, a place to belong”, and "Quilter's Heritage, Becca's Story" available on
Amazon.