Summary
Beloved, bestselling author of Amish fiction, Wanda E. Brunstetter takes readers on a journey in 1850 along the California Trail.
Only the brave--or foolhardy--would attempt a cross-country journey late in the season. Three wagons meet up in Independence, Missouri, in April 1850, and their owners decide to keep forging ahead despite many setbacks and delays. December finds them in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when a sudden snowstorm traps them, obscuring the trail.
Cynthia Cooper is traveling with her mother and the man she has promised to marry. But as Christmas is upon them and they are hunkered down in a small cabin, she is forced to reevaluate her reasons for planning to marry fellow-traveler Walter Prentice. When a widowed father heading to a California ranch and a gold prospector both show an interest in Cynthia, she weighs her dreams for marriage alongside her responsibility to care for her mother. Can love win over her timid heart?
Wanda E. Brunstetter began writing when she was a child. She became more serious about writing and completed coursework on writing for children at The Institute of Children's Literature in 1980 which was also the year of her first publication. Brunstetter is a professional ventriloquist and has published several ventriloquist books.
Brunstetter's first novel was published in 1997. She enjoys writing about the Amish because of their peaceful and simple lives. Her book, Lancaster Brides, was on the Christian Booksellers Association (CBA) bestseller's list for seven months. Her book Lydia's Charm made The New York Times Bestseller list for 2010 and her title The Healing made Publisher's Weekly Best Selling List for 2011. Also her title Goodbye to Yesterday made The New York Times Best Seller List in 2013. Brunstetter's title, The Decision, made the Publisher's Weekly Best Seller in 2015.
