Beulah

Beulah Beatrice “Be-Be” Connor, who is approaching the age of thirty, gave up on marriage after the second man who had courted her left for better prospects and never returned. Unlike the two maiden great-aunts, after whom she was named, she did not have an inheritance to fall back on. She had worked almost half her life for her own support. When the café job in Wichita, Kansas, disappeared as the Panic of 1893 continued, she considered the job she landed at a new girls’ academy in nearby New Ponca, Oklahoma Territory, to be a Godsend. She begins to question her employer after several events occur, including the request that she attend a construction mathematics class.

Daniel Burdock had once been married. After both his wife and baby died during childbirth, he gave up on the idea of marriage. He now focuses on making improvements on his homestead claim. He accepts his carpenter brother’s offer to attend his construction mathematics class on mitering corners, figuring angles for roof trusses, and other geometry and trigonometry skills needed for building.

Why does it surprise him that Marigold Burdock agreed to teach Miss Connor how to make quilts on the condition she attend the construction class? Marigold claims that learning how to create triangles and other geometric shapes so they fit together will be good preparation for designing quilt blocks.

Construction mathematics for quilting? Honestly? Although Daniel soon realizes those skills could be helpful for piecing quilts, he begins to suspect there is more afoot than feet, inches, and angles. If he is not careful, he and Be-Be might end up stitched and bound together like a Christmas quilt.

If you enjoy BEULAH, you might enjoy reading my next book in this series, PHOEBE, which is scheduled for release 11/15/2024.