Love Comes Home: A Novel

by Ann H. Gabhart

Overview

World War II is finally over and the people of Rosey Corner are busy welcoming the boys home. The Merritt sisters in particular are looking toward the future. Kate is eager to start a family and live out her dream of happily ever after with Jay. Evangeline wants a beautiful house and encourages Mike to pastor a big-town church. Victoria wants what can never be—a life with a man who will never come back. And little Lorena is growing up and wondering more and more about her birth family.

Through the heartfelt storytelling of bestselling author Ann Gabhart, readers join these endearing characters as they walk an uncertain road. Each sister must learn to hold her plans with a loose hand, trusting that God will guide and strengthen them as they share the joys and sorrows of life in their little corner of the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800721855
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	07/01/2014
Pages:	382
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of several Shaker novels—The Refuge, The Outsider, The Believer, The Seeker, The Blessed, and The Gifted—as well as other historical novels, including Angel Sister, These Healing Hills, River to Redemption, and An Appalachian Summer. She and her husband live on a farm a mile from where she was born in rural Kentucky. Ann enjoys discovering the everyday wonders of nature while hiking in her farm's fields and woods with her grandchildren and her dogs, Frankie and Marley. Learn more at www.annhgabhart.com.

Read an Excerpt

Love Comes Home

A Novel

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By Ann H. Gabhart

Revell

Copyright © 2014 Ann H. Gabhart
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8007-2185-5

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CHAPTER 1

The news was good. The news was wonderful. Kate Tanner grabbed her notebook and headed out of the newspaper building to join the people spilling out onto the Lexington, Kentucky, streets. Tommy yelled that she could get a better view from the upstairs window, but she wasn't worried about the best view. This wasn't just the chance for another story. Her feet wanted to dance in the streets too.

The boys were coming home! Japan had surrendered. The bombs, the terrible bombs, had finished the fighting. The war was over.

The instant she stepped out on the sidewalk, a stranger grabbed her, lifted her off her feet, and spun her around. He was smiling. She was smiling. He said something when he turned her loose, but she had no idea what as church bells and horns drowned out his words. He laughed and slung his hat up in the air with no thought of retrieving it before he ran on up the street.

Everywhere people waved handkerchiefs and papers in the air. Kate joined in with her notebook. Sal from the restaurant across the street grabbed her in a bear hug and knocked her notebook out of her hand. It didn't matter. She didn't need to take notes. Every second of this scene would be burned in her memory forever. The shouts and laughter. The boys shimmying up the lampposts who wouldn't have to go to war now. The girls sparkling at the thought of their sweethearts coming home. Sparkling like Kate.

She felt the crackle of Jay's last letter in her pocket. His words played through her mind. I love you. I'll be coming home to Rosey Corner soon unless I have to ship out to the Pacific. Nobody's sure what's going to happen there.

But now he could be sure. They could all be sure.

He was in Germany. Not fighting anymore. Blessedly not fighting since the Allied forces rolled through Berlin in May. Hitler was dead and the Germans defeated. The prison camps had been liberated. Mike, her sister's husband, was free after two years in a German stalag. Praise the Lord neither he nor Jay would have to go to the Pacific. The only place they had to come now was home. Home to Rosey Corner, Kentucky.

Kate wished one of the happy people pushing past her was Evie. Her sister would surely be dancing in the streets in Louisville where she worked. It would be even better if they were both in Rosey Corner with their other sisters. Lorena would be singing, her beautiful voice calling Jay and Mike home. Tori would be celebrating too, or trying to. She'd be happy for Evie and Kate. She would. Sincerely happy, but tears would be under her smile. Not all the boys would be coming home. Tori's Sammy would not.

Sadness stabbed through Kate. How many other wives and mothers watched the celebration with sorrow in their hearts? Those like Tori who had taken down their Service flag to cover the blue star with a gold one, showing the terrible price of the war? She shook away the thought. This wasn't the time to weep for the dead. It was time to rejoice that the dying was over.

Two girls she knew from the dime store grabbed Kate's hands to pull her on up the street. Not to get anywhere, but just because if they didn't move, they might explode from the joy. The boys were coming home!

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Love Comes Home by Ann H. Gabhart. Copyright © 2014 Ann H. Gabhart. Excerpted by permission of Revell.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Editorial Reviews

★ 05/26/2014
In a return to Rosey Corner, Ky., Gabhart revisits the inspiring beloved characters introduced in her historical Angel Sister and continued in Small Town Girl. WWII has finally drawn to a close, and everyone anticipates life returning to the prewar normal as most of the soldiers return home. The Merritt sisters—Kate, Evie, Tori, and Lorena—are no exception to this. Yet the previous normal is gone, replaced by something the elder sisters aren’t quite sure how to navigate. They must rely on family and community, but most of all each other, as they travel down the road God has set them on. This beautifully written story has a timely resonance, uplifting and filled with hope even as it addresses painful topics. Masterfully storytelling blends with a written love story about sisters everywhere, resulting in a novel tailor made for book clubs that can be treasured and shared with all who appreciate the beauty of love and family and the value of struggle. Agent: Wendy Lawton, Books and Such Literary Agency. (July)

Publishers Weekly