With genteel grace and quiet fortitude, Emma Garrett presides over Hill House, a stately boardinghouse in the canal village of Candlewood, New York. She finds her purpose in caring for her guests, ministering to them with a generous dose of wisdom and humor. But when a "runaway grandma" lands on her doorstep, Emma's need to fix every wrong places her in the midst of a family feud.

Emma's concerns heighten when her attorney, Zachary Breckenwith, delivers life-changing news, leaving Emma reeling from the implications. With her future suddenly uncertain, Emma longs to restore the peace of...

When tragedy befalls the village of Candlewood, Emma Garrett graciously opens the doors of her boardinghouse to those in need. But two guests prove so disagreeable, Emma wonders how she can turn the other cheek--and what will become of the rest of her guests.

Adding to the turmoil are the legal problems threatening the title to her house. And when Zachary Breckenwith makes a most surprising--and troubling--announcement, Emma's once-sure foundation is in danger of crumbling.

In a season of trial and uncertainty, Emma must discover anew the source of her strength.

With no means to support herself, Ellie Kilmer agrees to work as a housekeeper for the young widower who lives on Dillon Island, hopeful she can obtain a proper reference. But Jackson Smith quickly realizes that Ellie's presence may solve his own problems--both the rearing of his young boys and the scandal that surrounds his first marriage.

When a marriage of convenience is offered, Ellie is initially humiliated. Though she is past the age most women marry, she has more pride than to agree to his outlandish suggestion. Yet what options does she have? To marry would mean a home and...

Ruth Livingstone's life changes drastically the day her father puts a young child in her arms and sends her to a small village in New Jersey under an assumed name. There Ruth pretends to be a widow and quietly secludes herself until her father is acquitted of a crime. But with the emergence of the penny press, the imagination of the reading public is stirred, and her father's trial stands center stage. Asher Tripp is the brash newspaperman who determines that this case is the event he can use to redeem himself as a journalist.

Ruth finds solace tending a garden along the banks of the Toms...