Sue

Susan Hancock, is often called Sue, now she lives with her married stepsister, Lucy, in Carson City, Nevada. She prepares to follow Lucy’s example by furthering her education so she can teach school. Although her studies are challenging, sometimes the greatest pressure others place upon her is to set furthering her education aside in order to choose one of the men—young or old—who seek to claim her as a wife. Like Lucy, she prefers to get her education first and experience being a teacher for at least one year before she settles down. Besides, in spite of the many men flocking to the Carson River Valley, none yet have captured her interest enough to tempt her to give up her goal. When an unexpected opportunity for adventure arises, she feels prompted to temporarily postpone her formal education.

Thomas Wilcox, a former Union soldier from Kansas, survived the American Civil War—the final five months spent in a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp. Although difficult to stay in touch while moving from one battlefield to the next, he knows both his father and brother—also Union soldiers—are dead. His mother, after the sacking of Lawrence, took his cousin to her father and safety in California. He alone remains in the East. Suffering from the effects of malnutrition and the nightmares he cannot escape, he has lost the desire to farm the land his mother saved for him. He decides, whether or not he regains an enthusiasm for living and a sense of purpose, he prefers to rejoin the family he still has.

You might also enjoy my other three books in the Prairie Roses Collection:
Pearl – Book 16
Clara – Book 25
Lucy – Book 46