Kate Krause is thrilled to be newly married to her husband Joe and able to leave behind a selfish mean tempered grandmother to live with him on his farm in Iowa. The farm has been in his family for more than 140 years and carries much history. She looks forward to working with Joe side by side on the farm and raising a family there.

Sadly, Kate's excitement is tempered almost from the first moment she and Joe arrive at his lovely old farmhouse. There's a surprise waiting for her in that Joe's mother, Trudy, will also be living with them. This news results in their first disagreement as husband and wife.

To make matters worse, the two women butt heads almost instantly. Trudy maintains the beliefs held about women in the early 1900's. Women during that time were basically "owned" by the men in their lives. First they had to serve their fathers, and then they were turned over to their husbands. Kate comes from a different era and will not be owned although she's more than willing to do her fair share of work around the house.

The story of another Krause woman named Hannah is also told in THE WIDOWS OF BRAXTON COUNTY. It is her story that played out in the early 1800's and has remained a mystery since then. Kate becomes very interested in Hannah's story when tragedy strikes her own life and starts to dig into the events that plagued Hannah so long ago.

THE WIDOWS OF BRAXTON COUNTY will hold you in its grip from the first page. It will also take you on a full gamut of emotions from happiness to outrage to anger and tears. Prepare to give yourself over to THE WIDOWS OF BRAXTON COUNTY until you've reached that very last page.

Jess McConkey is also Shirley Damsgaard, author of the Ophelia and Abby books. While THE WIDOWS OF BRAXTON COUNTY is a much different type of book than those, you'll still find the same high quality of writing. This is a fast moving book in the present and a rather slow crawl to exposing events in the past. Either way, however, the reader is presented with a story that will not let you go until the end of all avenues have been reached.

Whether you like to read while curled up in a porch swing, lounging on the beach or sitting by a cozy fire, THE WIDOWS OF BRAXTON COUNTY is the perfect book to get lost in.