In this collection of brand-new historical novellas, four young women find their lives altered after each receives a letter that sets her on a new path toward a changed life --- and perhaps lifelong love. From a Hudson River steamboat to a lush drawing room, from a carousel carver's workshop to a remote and controversial hospital, readers will love being swept into the lives of four young women who are making their way in the world and finding love where they least expect it.

It isn't Cassie Haddon's fault that she has reached the age of 25 without possessing any useful skills. Until the War Between the States, she always had servants. Since then, she and her mother have been forced to rely on family to care for them. But now the well of human kindness has run dry --- and Cassie must find work to support them. She will need to summon all of her courage and wits to convince local restaurateur and grocer Jacob West that she's exactly what his business needs.

With tenderness and grace, Ann Shorey invites readers back to the town of Noble Springs, Missouri, for an engrossing story of love's tentative first steps and fragile future in the face of opposition. Readers will find in Rosemary a sympathetic but strong woman determined to thrive in a world that doesn't always understand.

The War Between the States stole a father and brother from Faith Lindberg --- as well as Royal Baxter, the man she wanted to marry. With only her grandfather left, she dreams of leaving Noble Springs, Missouri, and traveling west to Oregon to start a new life, away from the memories that haunt her.