Why would someone kill her uncle? Are the two murders connected? There are the murders of two men in the town- one of which was her uncle from whom she received the inheritance- and what had led to the crimes. There is Walsh’s courage and fire in promoting women’s rights and her attempts to help the other women in Calvada in a variety of circumstances, from miner’s widows to brothel workers to abused wives to young single women just arriving in town.

There is Walsh’s adventure in finding a marketable trade and determination to revamp the newspaper her uncle had run and all the dangers that come with printing unpopular truths. Kathryn hopes there is more to the mine than meets the eye and that she can use it to help boost the economy and living conditions in the town. The second plot thread woven into this title is the aforementioned inheritance which includes a claim to a mine everyone in town assumes is worthless.

‘The lady’s mine,’ he tells another suitor. Walsh, adamant about never getting married, gets to her destination of Calvada and meets Matthias Beck who quickly becomes determined to marry her… same as every other mining bachelor in the town. This aptly and cleverly titled historical fiction/romance novel follows Kathryn Walsh, sent away from her wealthy stepfather and mother for ‘disturbing their peace’ to make a living in California with the inheritance she received from her uncle. The setting is the same, but this story is much different. It was fitting then to see this book coming out this year as it also takes place in California’s gold country in the late 1800s. I just went and saw the movie adaptation for Francine River’s most famous book, Redeeming Love. “Courage could be reckless, and recklessness brought consequences.”

Francine rivers book list