It's 1896 on the Canadian prairies, and Betsy Tompkins wants to be a photographer. Western prairie women have two choices: marry, and be a wife, or stay single, and be a spinster.
Betsy knows the spinster option is the only one for her. She's deaf, and hearing men live in a different world. Also, wives simply don't have careers--they cook, clean, and raise children.
Sergeant James Macleod of the North West Mounted has a troubling secret.

Leaving his native Scotland was a painful and life-changing choice, and he feels he can't go back. He's determined to make a new life for himself on the Canadian prairies.
He'd like a wife and a family, but eligible women are scarce, and he's an educated man.
He's just doing his job when he meets Betsy, but suddenly he sees his future in a whole new light. He wants her to be his bride.

James must honour his commitment to keep the peace on the wild Canadian prairie, even though it takes him far away from Betsy and endangers his very life.
But he finds a friend who'll help him bring peace to his own troubled soul.

The question is, will he lose Betsy in the process?

AUTHOR INTERVIEW:

How did you come to write this book?
My mother was born on the Canadian prairies and she told me stories about the women and men who homesteaded there. My son is deaf, and I imagined what it would have been like to be a deaf woman in those early times.
Betsy was familiar to me; she made her appearance in Lantern In The Window, the first of the Western Prairie Brides series, and she was so brave and smart and sassy, I knew she needed a book of her own.

Which character was difficult to write?

That would be Rose. Instead of being difficult, she constantly tried to take over the story. So I had to write a short book just for her, ROSE'S MAIL-ORDER BRIDES AND GROOMS. And that led to DARLING CLEMENTINE and TANGLED LIVES. Thanks, Rose.

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