Deafened at a young age, her natural-born means of expression taken from her, Amelia Anne Polley must learn to communicate all over again. More than her ability to hear was taken from her on the fateful day she fell ill in 1874. Left to grow up in frontier territory, at the Colorado Institute for the Education of Mutes, Amelia is determined to live the life sheβd dreamed for herself before becoming deaf. Her dreams do not include becoming deaf. Her dreams do not include becoming anyoneβs mail-order bride, especially the handsome, roughened rancher Aaron Zacheryβs.
Amelia has reasons enough not to marry Aaron, not the least of which is that she and the weathered cowboy are complete strangers. Different in ways that count, for any man and wife, Amelia and Aaron surely wonβt suit. Why, they have nothing in common except secretsβsecrets neither wants to reveal to the other and risk what might happen. Beyond the language of speech and sign, of reading and writing, and informed expression, is another language, one speaking to emotion and passion, a language far more intimate, and oftentimes harder to learn. Only if Amelia and Aaron can find their way out of their troubled pasts, overcoming hardship and heartache, will they find their way to each other, and learn to speak the same languageβof love.
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