Musings by Erin

When it comes to Christian historical romance, Jody Hedlund is one of the names that comes to mind for a great story. I was introduced to her writing several years ago when I won her biographical fiction piece on John Newton entitled "Newton and Polly". Two years ago, she wrote an amazing series on the orphan trains that I thoroughly enjoyed and she is currently doing a series on the bride ships that brought women from England to the Canadian colonies where miners had settled in and men outnumbered the women 100 to 1. When Ms. Hedlund learned of these ships, she wondered at what sort of desperation would cause women to leave the only home they've ever known, sail for months at a time to come to a colony and plan to marry a stranger. This series looks into those reasons and each leading lady has a different one. Bride of Convenience is the 3rd book in this series. It follows Zoe, who has come to the colonies on the bride ship not only to be a bride, but also to find her

Amanda Barratt is a new name to me for historical fiction, but I've heard a lot of good things about her. This book received a lot of buzz in some reader groups I belong to, and I had to check it out for myself. Written about a little-known (to me anyway) German resistance group, this book came from the perspective of German citizens during WWII who were against what Hitler was doing. While a couple of the main characters are fictional (Kirk and Annalise), they are based loosely on other outlying members of the White Rose. But the remaining main characters were all real people and the things that they did in this book really happened, as is what happened to them. This book speaks to the importance of standing up for what you believe in, no matter the cost. Here's the synopsis: Inspired by an incredible true story, The White Rose Resists reveals the power of ordinary men and women to stand against evil…no matter the cost. The ideal of a new Germany swept up Sophie Scholl