Willow (Promised Land)
The first book in the new Promised Land series introduces the Dulan sisters. Willow arrives in St. Joseph, Missouri, after a long and tedious journey only to find herself attending a funeral service. Her father, Jake's, only legacy to the five Dulan girls is each other, and they decide to join a wagon train of mail-order brides heading west to California under the direction of Hank Gibson and Rafe Pierce. Hank anticipates trouble, but Rafe precipitates it by arrogantly dismissing the sisters as delicate, useless creatures who won't last a week on the trail. Almost immediately, Willow proves Rafe wrong by hauling him out of the river when his horse tosses him, stitching him up, and leading the wagons across the prairie to join the rest of the group while Rafe is unconscious. Full of good-humored banter and exciting moments engendered by the very real dangers of travel in pioneer days, Brown's gentle historical romance beguiles the reader into wanting more stories of these enterprising and determined Dulans.Lynne WelchCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved