Whispers of Love (1999 release)
Chicago, Illinois - 1871

Jessie Wagstaff's beloved husband Will died fighting for the Union in his attempt to help free all Negroes. Now, still wearing black mourning clothes years after his death, Jessie is doing all she can to make ends meet and provide for her son Lincoln. When ex-soldier Lee Smith comes knocking on her door asking for a room to rent, Jessie denies his request. She only rents to women. Still, the enterprising Mr. Smith continues to show up on her doorstep, wedging himself into Jessie and Linc's life. Lee Smith has secrets he does not want Jessie to know, but he promised his best friend Will that he would take care of his family. And Lee is determined to keep that promise at all costs. Meanwhile, Jessie fights for equality and equal health care for her Negro friend, Susan, and their other dark skinned neighbors. But it's a losing battle, and she hits prejudice and small mindedness at every turn. And when a deadly fire sweeps through the city of Chicago, destroying everything in its path, Jessie and Lee must fight to live and reclaim their lives out of the ashes.

Lost in His Love (2000 release)
San Francisco, California - 1906

Journalist Lincoln Wagstaff has moved to San Francisco in search of justice. His crusade is going to bring the plight of the lower classes to the public eye. In these times, working conditions for the poor in America's factories are deplorable. Young children are forced to work, spending their days alongside their parents inside filthy, unsafe, and downright dangerous buildings. Linc plans to enlist someone to help promote his cause. He needs the social influence of San Francisco's elite, and for that he chooses young heiress Cecelia Jackson. The innocent Miss Jackson becomes Linc's pliable pawn in his quest to for social reform. And Cecelia must learn the hard lessons of life outside of her affluent upbringing. When a massive earthquake hits San Francisco, the stakes are higher than ever before, but there is the chance to rebuild what nature has torn down.

Echoes of Mercy (2000 release)
New Orleans, Louisiana - 1920

Meg Wagstaff has recently returned from the war in France where she served behind the battle lines in the YMCA canteens. Meg and Delman Dubois were raised together in her father's household. They didn't care that Del's skin was dark, and each thought of the other as brother, sister, and friend. After returning from France, Meg goes home to San Francisco, but Del goes only as far as New Orleans, convinced he would find a more sympathetic atmosphere in a place where coloreds are populous. Del was wrong. The Deep South is not a place known for its acceptance. Now he's been arrested and charged with murder, and Meg rushes across the country to help him. Tenacious in her determination for a fair trial for Del, Meg battles against prosecutor Gabriel St. Clair. With Prohibition imminent, both Gabe and Meg fight against all odds for justice.

BLESSED ASSURANCE combines these three books in one volume as a new reprint for your keeper shelf. Whispers of Love is what Jessie fights against in her determination not to remarry and force her son Linc to suffer under the hands of a stepfather as she did. And in Lost in His Love, a grown-up Linc carries on his mother's fight for equal rights, not for racial justice, but to improve the lives of the average American factory worker. And finally, Echoes of Mercy brings to light the harsh and unfair conditions in the South for people of color when Linc's daughter, Meg, fights for her friend, Del.

Each of these stories is riveting, bringing some of our most tragic times to light: the great Chicago fire, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and the rough and tumble era of Prohibition and civil rights. Linc and Cecelia's story is probably my favorite because it's set in my backyard, and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake is one of my own particular obsessions. That said, I must speak out on something I feel is a huge error that should have been corrected at first publication. Throughout this story, the city of Monterey and its canneries are depicted as being located on the opposite shore, and just across the waters of the San Francisco Bay. Nothing is farther from fact -- Monterey is actually over 100 miles south of the city of San Francisco, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean and adjacent to the Salinas Valley. In 1906, travel in the unproven early cars of that time, combined with the lack of proper roads, would have made Linc's quick trip in his Pierce Arrow improbable. I can suspend belief on the travel portion, but putting Monterey across San Francisco Bay is just wrong. This aside, BLESSED ASSURANCE is a wonderful collection of special stories that is sure to be the perfect gift.

Diana Risso