Dandelions on the Wind (13 page)

Authors: Mona Hodgson

Tags: #Fiction, #Christian, #Historical, #Romance, #General

BOOK: Dandelions on the Wind

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Thank you for joining me on my adventures with the quilting circle in Saint Charles, Missouri, a city brimming with a rich history and compelling characters.

If you’ve read The Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek series, you know I like to include real life women from the time and place in my stories. In the Quilted Heart novellas, you’ll hear about Mary Easton Sibley, the founder of Lindenwood University—known as Lindenwood Female College in 1865.

I enjoy featuring actual cities and places, but in keeping with my commitment as a storyteller of historical fiction, I’m required to play with facts and actual locations to best meet the needs of my stories.

Also, I’m not writing my personal or family history in my fiction; however, bits and pieces of it do make their way into my characters’ journeys. That’s the case with Maren Jensen’s experience with losing her eyesight. Her blindness is hereditary with the symptoms of what we now recognize as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a disease that caused my mother’s father to go blind. Three of my mother’s four sisters and several of her nieces and nephews are also affected by RP.

Please plan now to join me in the next two novellas in The Quilted Heart stories—
Bending Toward the Sun
and
Ripples Along the Shore
, and then step into my Hearts Seeking Home series with me. I look forward to our time together in the pages. Until then, may His Word be a lamp to your feet and a light on your path as you walk in God’s grace and peace.

Acknowledgments

On some levels, writing is a solitary undertaking. But it is also a process requiring a team of supporters. Many people rallied around me in the various stages of this story.

• My hubby, Bob—my first reader, technical support, home manager

• My agent, Janet Kobobel Grant of Books & Such Literary Agency

• My critique partner, DiAnn Mills

• My editor, Shannon Hill Marchese

• The entire WaterBrook Multnomah–Random House team

• Carol M. Felzien, director of communication, Greater Saint Charles Convention & Visitors Bureau

• Robert “Bob” Sandfort, PhD, past president, Saint Charles County Historical Society

• Dorris Keeven-Franke, archivist, Saint Charles County Historical Society

• Paul Huffman, university archivist, Lindenwood University

• Dr. Gary McKiddy, Saint Charles County German Heritage Club

• The Historic Main Street business owners for making me feel so welcome

• My prayer partners

A big thank-you to all who are listed, and to all who aren’t, for making it possible for me to accomplish my dream of writing novels for you.

About the Author

Mona Hodgson is the author of The Sinclair Sisters of Cripple Creek series and nearly thirty children’s books. Her writing credits also include hundreds of articles, poems, and short stories in more than fifty different periodicals, including
Highlights for Children, Focus on the Family, Decision, Clubhouse Jr., The Upper Room, The Quiet Hour
, and the
Christian Communicator
. Mona speaks at women’s retreats, schools, and conferences for librarians, educators, and writers and is a regular columnist on the
Bustles and Spurs Blog
.

Mona and Bob, her husband of forty-one years, have two adult daughters, two sons-in-law, and a gaggle of grandchildren.

Learn more about Mona, find readers’ guides for your book club, and view her photo album of current day Saint Charles, Missouri, at Mona’s website:
MonaHodgson.com
.

You can also find Mona here:

Facebook at
www.facebook.com/pages/Mona-Hodgson-Author-Page/114199561939095

Twitter at
www.twitter.com/monahodgson

Pinterest at
http://pinterest.com/monahodgson/pins/

And be sure to follow her on Hindsight by Mona Hodgson at
http://monahodgson.wordpress.com
.

O
THER
B
OOKS BY
M
ONA
H
ODGSON

H
ISTORICAL
F
ICTION
Two Brides Too Many
Too Rich for a Bride
The Bride Wore Blue
Twice a Bride

C
HILDREN
’
S
B
OOKS
Bedtime in the Southwest
(Northland Publishing)
Real Girls of the Bible: A 31-Day Devotional
(Zonderkidz)
The Princess Twins and the Puppy
(Zonderkidz I Can Read)
The Princess Twins Play in the Garden
(Zonderkidz I Can Read)
The Princess Twins and the Tea Party
(Zonderkidz I Can Read)
The Princess Twins and the Birthday Party
(Zonderkidz I Can Read)
The Best Breakfast
(Zonderkidz I Can Read)
Thank You, God, for Rain
(Zonderkidz I Can Read)

For a complete and current listing of Mona’s books, including any out-of-print titles she may still have available, please visit her website at
MonaHodgson.com
.

Continue the
Quilted Hearts journey!

Also look for the first novel in the Hearts Seeking Home series, coming Summer 2013!

Two sisters.
Two missing misters.

Kat and Nell Sinclair are headed west—away from the manicured lawns of Maine to the boisterous, booming mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado to start new lives for themselves as mail-order brides. But when they arrive, neither fiancé is there, leaving both sisters questioning their dreams and the hope for true love.

Read an excerpt from this book and more on
WaterBrookMultnomah.com
!

Ida wants a career,
not a husband.
But her sisters and God
have other plans.

Ida Sinclair joins her sisters Kat and Nell in Cripple Creek. As the business-savvy Sinclair sister, Ida has never wanted to settle down. Instead of love, she craves success. But while searching for one, she just might find the other.

Read an excerpt from this book and more on
WaterBrookMultnomah.com
!

She’s ashamed
of
her past
and
has no faith
in
her future.
Or
grace.

Vivian has made one bad decision too many and now she’s looking for a fresh start. But between the lies about her past and the lies about the present, there’s no room to accept help—or love—from her sisters or anyone else. Not even from that interesting sheriff’s deputy who has his eye on her.

Read an excerpt from this book and more on
WaterBrookMultnomah.com
!

Good can come
from brokenness.

Young widow Willow Peterson is determined to pursue art and romance in bustling Cripple Creek, Colorado. Can a handsome photographer mend her heart and give her a true home? And can Willow’s landlady, Miss Hattie, get a second chance at love in the second half of her life?