Showing results by author "Linda Brooks Davis" in All Categories

Ella McFarland sits on the precipice of her life's dream: teaching at Worthington School for Girls. But in the male dominated world of 1905, scandal clouds her family name and may limit her to grueling farm labor in Indian Territory. As hope for Oklahoma statehood rises, a new love buds in her heart, and the woman's suffrage debate rages, Ella encounters an abused sharecropper's daughter, forcing her to make decisions she never imagined about her faith, family, and aspirations.

The year 1914. While American women are demanding the vote and the first flames of the Great War are igniting Europe, a battle of a different sort rages in Oklahoma. The thermometer registers 106 degrees, an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence, even for the 28th day of July. But this is no ordinary day. The jury has reached a verdict. Lily fidgets in the old church pew. She's lost enough, given more than her share. Hasn't she? The answer rests in the hands of 12 men. Not a single woman sits among the jurors. Lily eyes the judge, and the courtroom holds its breath.

As an aspiring newspaper reporter, Blossom Evans expects to find plenty of material with which to carve out a career. But alarming tales about the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas abound. Barely tamed, rugged brushland. Mexican bandits. Wildcats, rattlesnakes, and tarantulas as big around as dinner plates. Where will she find the courage to face - and overcome - such foes, even for her dream career? The first hint of an answer lies in the sleepy West Texas town of Winters. An unexpected conflict is brewing, one that could launch a reporter's career - or crush it before it begins.

When God's plan collides with a woman's single-minded will, lives change - if she'll let them. Ella thought adopting five daughters a month after her wedding would be difficult. Sixteen years later, letting go of her eldest is even harder. As Amaryllis prepares to spread her wings upon college graduation, Ella runs headlong into questions she can't answer. If Amaryllis chooses to make a life in faraway Denver, can Ella trust the Lord to keep her safe? Will Ella's mother-in-law's high society friends puff up Amaryllis until she's blinded to what's important?

Orphaned as an infant, Oklahoma heiress Adelaide Fitzgerald has enjoyed every advantage. She possesses a unique gift for music and has excelled on the opera stage in Italy. As a philanthropist, she's adored from America to Europe. But Miss Adelaide is about to awaken in a 1918 nightmare. In The Awakening of Miss Adelaide, war and peace, laughter and heartache, love and loss come together to ignite a fresh fire that reveals one woman's hidden needs and potentials.

In A Christmas to Remember listeners of The Calling of Ella McFarland revisit Ella and her husband Andrew in the cottage along Rock Creek. Three years into their marriage, their life - and they, themselves - have changed. What could have prepared them for the challenges thus far? Or those ahead? It's Christmas, 1908. And Ella's life is about to be transformed. Again.

Broadview is attired for Christmas. Garland encircles the front pillars. Wreaths grace the doors. Candles glow in the windows. And bangles sparkle on the tree. Rather than travel to Europe or perform in a grand city or entertain dignitaries in her ballroom, Adelaide is hosting two dear young girls in Broadview. These youngsters declined a Colorado Christmas in lieu of spending the holiday with their Auntie Addie. Unmarried and childless, she must give these girls a Christmas like no other.

A girl on the cusp of womanhood; a woman at the nadir of life. One, erect as her starched collar; the other, bent as a shepherd’s crook. Joined by blood, separated by circumstance, mother and daughter reunite. What will Lily and Ma find in the old shack where their sweat and tears once mingled? It’s Christmas, 1910, and Lily’s in for a Yuletide surprise she hasn’t reckoned for.