"When Jasmine is suddenly widowed at seventeen, she seems fated to a life of quiet isolation in the small Indian village where she was born. But the force of Jasmine's desires propels her explosively into a larger, more dangerous, and ultimately more life-giving world. In just a few years, Jasmine becomes Jane Ripplemeyer, happily pregnant by a middle-aged Iowa banker and the adoptive mother of a Vietnamese refugee. Jasmine's metamorphosis, with its...

In this lighthearted historical romance set at a turn-of-the-century lake resort, an independent young woman doesn't think she needs a man until a brash young baseball player catches her eye.

"Melinda throws herself into plans for the rural community's first-ever fall festival, and all the seasonal tasks around her small farm. But her sun-dappled days are disrupted when little Prosper is suddenly thrust into the spotlight. An unexpected windfall gives new life to a long-held hope, and a surprising discovery puts everyone on edge. And as the mayor's race heats up, Melinda discovers small-town politics can be worse than anything that goes...

All is calm in Melinda's hometown ... until outsiders start to shake things up. The quiet days of early winter make Prosper look like a scene from a snow globe. Holiday lights glow in every window, plans are being made for the Christmas festival, and greetings of good cheer fill the aisles at Prosper Hardware. Everything changes when a national magazine sets its sights on the town's newest business, creating controversy about the best way to put little...

No one is exempt from the winds of change, and that includes the residents of little Prosper. Between debate about the fate of a vacant property and the rush to open the community center, new ideas are taking root all around town. But it's a season of secrets, too. Someone seeks a chance to start over, while others are too proud to ask for a helping hand. And as Melinda searches for answers to a decades-old rumor, she discovers the past is never far...

A seventeen-year-old star student and gifted athlete hides the painful truths about her private life, including a failing family farm, her mother's growing apocalyptic fears, the institutionalization of her special-needs sister, and her romance with the son of Hmong immigrants.