A Shenandoah Album Novel

5 primary works

Wedding Ring

by Emilie Richards

Published 12 November 2004

Needing time to contemplate her troubled marriage, Tessa MacRae agrees to spend the summer helping her mother and grandmother clean out the family home in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. But the three women have never been close. Helen, the family matriarch, is domineering and sharp-tongued. Nancy, Tessa's mother, appears to be little more than a social climber. And Tessa herself is in turmoil following a family tragedy that has affected them all. Now, with the gift of time, Tessa's eyes are opened, and she begins to see her mother and grandmother for the flawed but courageous women they are. As she restores a vintage wedding-ring quilt pieced by her grandmother and quilted by her mother, the secrets that have shadowed their lives unfold at last. And each woman discovers that sometimes you have to clean house to find the things you thought were lost forever.

Endless Chain

by Emilie Richards

Published 1 August 2005

Endless Chain by Emilie Richards released on Jun 28, 2005 is available now for purchase.

Lover's Knot

by Emilie Richards

Published 1 December 2006

After narrowly escaping death, newspaper journalist Kendra Taylor retreats to a cabin nestled in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley to heal and sort out her feelings about her troubled marriage. The land was bequeathed to her husband by a maternal grandmother he never knew, and the cabin has been abandoned for years.

As she is welcomed into the rural community of Toms Brook, Kendra becomes curious about an heirloom lover's knot quilt, which is another piece of Isaac's unexplored past. The unusual quilt clearly has a story to tell, and Kendra is convinced that helping her husband connect with his roots might help him reconnect with her, as well.

At first Isaac's reluctant visits to the cabin only underscore the difficulties in their marriage. But as circumstances force them to piece together a new relationship, Isaac discovers that the history of a family he's never known might hold the key to his future.

As a passionate story of strength, loss and desperation unfolds, the secrets of two quilts are revealed and the threads of an unraveling marriage are secured. In the rich, evocative prose that earned high praise for Wedding Ring and Endless Chain, Emilie Richards crafts the third tale in the Shenandoah Album series, resonant with the power of love and family ties.

Touching Stars

by Emilie Richards

Published 1 July 2007

When is a family no longer a family? Gayle Fortman has built a good life for herself and her three sons in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Divorced from charismatic broadcast journalist Eric Fortman, Gayle has made a success of her bed-and-breakfast. She has even maintained a cordial relationship with Eric--for whom family was never a priority, even when they were still married. Luckily, her closest neighbor has been a loving surrogate father to the boys and her own best friend. Then Eric returns: he lost his courage, and nearly his life, in Afghanistan, and needs a place to recover. Gayle offers him a summer at the inn and a chance to put things right. Gayle and Eric are all too aware that the love and attraction they once shared are still there. But can the pieces of their broken lives be mended, or are they better laid to rest?--From publisher description.

Sister's Choice

by Emilie Richards

Published 1 July 2008

Kendra and Jamie were never storybook sisters.

But after a long estrangement, Jamie has offered Kendra and her husband their ultimate dream-a child of their own. Despite some lingering misgivings about her once-wayward younger sister, Kendra agrees, and Jamie, a promising architect and single mother, becomes a gestational surrogate for Kendra and Isaac.

In addition to this amazing gift of life, Jamie designs a house for the couple on Isaac's ancestral property along the Shenandoah River. She hopes Kendra will finally see the woman she has become.

But when a medical crisis threatens Jamie's health and her budding relationship with Kendra's builder, the enigmatic Cash Rosslyn, Jamie learns that the most difficult choice in her life is still ahead, and its cost may be beyond calculation.