"Borrowed Light"

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North Carolina, summer of 1811. The land is worn out, the larder is thin, and rumors of rich soil in the Mississippi Territory whisper through every neighbor’s kitchen. Ann Beeson has spent twenty-one years stitching together a family that wasn’t originally hers—raising another woman’s children, weathering war-haunted silences from her veteran husband Edward, and learning when to lead and when to stand quietly at his side. Now, with their farm nearly spent and the frontier calling, she has one day to gather everyone home before everything changes. On a blazing Fourth of July, the Beesons host half the county for a farewell celebration: a roast hog, borrowed tables, old war comrades, new daughters-in-law, and children on the edge of adulthood. Edward is honored for the battles he will not speak of. Restless son Uriah talks of a militia commission that will carry him even farther west. Fierce, unforgettable Betty rides like no respectable woman should. Sixteen-year-old Alford must decide whether his future—and his heart—belong with the grandmother who raised him or the mother who gave him life. As fireworks flare against the darkening sky, Ann sees the truth: this may be the last time they are all together on one piece of earth. *Borrowed Light* is a richly drawn historical family saga about a strong woman caught between duty and desire, memory and migration, and the terrible, beautiful work of letting the people you love choose their own roads.