When a murder plot forces a Southern belle onto a ranch in the wild Montana mountains, love is the last thing she expects to find.

An Englishwoman born in 1831, Isabella Bird was frequently ill as a child and young woman, and her doctors recommended a life of travel and fresh air as the cure. Ultimately, she took the advice and traveled the world. And traveled. And traveled. Bird connected with the beauty of the Colorado Plains and the valleys and mountain parks that she found exhilarating. She would be the first woman to stand atop Colorado's Longs Peak, in 1873. While in Colorado she spent most of her time in Estes Park, but she traveled to Garden of the Gods, across South Park and through many of the mining towns. More than just traveling, she engaged the places she visited and the people she encountered. In the Rockies, Bird became acquainted with a local character, the mountain man known as "Rocky Mountain Jim," who would guide her up Longs Peak. Jim Nugent was a one-eyed ruffian of whom Isabella would write to her sister (in a paragraph excised from the published version of the letters) "A man any woman might love but no sane woman would marry." Bird referred to Nugent as her "dear desperado," and the mountain man seemingly had great affection for Bird, as well. Bird was 41 and single when she entered Colorado on September 9, 1873; she was 42 and still single when she left Colorado on December 12. Less than a year later, Nugent was shot and killed. This new book reveals the story of Bird's year in Colorado and her relationship with Nugent by re-examining Bird's letters to her beloved sister and putting her work in historical context.

When a hunting accident dashes a mountain woman's hopes of ever becoming a genteel lady, can God use the new doctor to heal her wounded heart?

Lilly Arendale has fought the anger of prejudice all her life. Her Guatemalan mother and wealthy English father were very much in love and gave her the best of upbringings, but their family was never accepted in either country. Now, orphaned and alone in the mining town of Butte in the Montana Territory, the effects of racism have left Lilly with a one-year-old daughter and a fierce desire to avoid men at all costs. Marcus Sullivan is a born adventurer, and the new preacher in town. He's not afraid to take a few risks and his ways may be unconventional, but he's determined to add some joy into the lives of these townspeople. Especially the beautiful young mother who won't have anything to do with him. When the threat to Lilly intensifies and her worst fears comes true, how can she find the strength to release control of the one thing that matters most--her daughter's life? As Marcus steps in to help, the danger only escalates. Has he finally taken a risk he can't overcome?

Claire Sullivan has a soft spot for helping those in need. So when her widowed grandmother becomes blind, Claire is determined to travel to the Montana Territory to care for her. But she never imagined the country would be so wild compared to her North Carolina home. Even the local doctor doesn't seem to have a kind bone in his body. Doctor Bryan Donaghue has worked day and night for two years to help the people of this wild Montana mining town. But no matter how hard he pushes, his efforts don't seem to make a difference in the quality of the townspeople's lives. Even the sassy granddaughter of the blind widow won't heed his instructions.But when disaster strikes their rough mining city, Bryan's drive to help may have taken him too far. Can Claire overcome her deepest fears to save the man she's come to love?

"Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest."—The New York Times Book Review Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods—all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever. “An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after year.” —The Horn Book

Letters to her sister about the author's travel in Colorado, autumn and early winter 1873.