Best Selling Books by Lisa Wingate

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours. From modern-day Roanoke Island to the sweeping backdrop of North Carolina''s Blue Ridge Mountains and Roosevelt''s WPA folklore writers, past and present intertwine to create an unexpected destiny. Restaurant owner Whitney Monroe is desperate to save her business from a hostile takeover. The inheritance of a decaying Gilded Age hotel on North Carolina''s Outer Banks may provide just the ray of hope she needs. But things at the Excelsior are more complicated than they seem. Whitney''s estranged stepfather is entrenched on the third floor, and the downstairs tenants are determined to save the historic building. Searching through years of stored family heirlooms may be Whitney''s only hope of quick cash, but will the discovery of an old necklace and a Depression-era love story change everything? Beautiful and heartfelt with themes of family, forgiveness, and hope Features clean, sweet romance Includes discussion questions for book clubs

When Iola Anne Poole, an old-timer on Hatteras Island, passes away in her bed at ninety-one, the struggling young mother in her rental cottage, Tandi Jo Reese, finds eighty-one carefully decorated prayer boxes, one for each year, spanning from Iola''s youth to her last days. Hidden in the boxes is the story of a lifetime, written on random bits of paper.

Learning that her grandmother was a victim of the corrupt Tennessee Children''s Home Society, attorney and aspiring politician Avery Stafford delves into her family''s past and begins to wonder if some things are best kept secret.

From the #1 New York Times author of Before We Were Yours! Elizabeth Gallagher has been balancing on the ragged edge for a while now. Then a rough case on the boards of her 911 operator''s job collides with a family conflict at home, and Elizabeth finds herself finally coming apart at the seams. A four-state road trip—trapped in a car with her mother—is the last thing she needs. Their destination may be beautiful Hatteras Island, but the reason for going is anything by pleasant. After one disastrous hurricane, and with a second one working its way up the coast, it''s time to convince Aunt Sandy to abandon her little seaside store on North Carolina''s Outer Banks and return to the family fold in Michigan. But when the storm sweeps through, the three women will discover that sisterhood and the sea can change hearts, lives, and futures . . . often in the most unpredictable of ways.

An ordinary summer brings about an extraordinary change of heart in the first novel in the Blue Sky Hill series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends and Before We Were Yours. Changes aren’t in Rebecca Macklin’s plans when she receives a long-distance call from the Dallas police. Her aging father has been found repeatedly wandering the city streets alone, and his wife has suffered a serious illness and landed in a nursing home. Despite the demands of the busy LA legal practice Rebecca shares with her husband, she must put aside old resentments and return to her childhood home. When Hanna Beth Parker hears about the arrival of her stepdaughter, Rebecca, who has stayed away for decades, she knows something is terribly wrong. Suddenly, the last person she’d ever turn to for help is the only one she can count on. But forging a relationship with Rebecca will require awakening old ghosts. In this moving story of separation and forgiveness, two women will unravel the betrayals of the past, examine the yearnings of the heart, and discover the truest meaning of family.

“A story beautifully told, with richly drawn characters that will...make you want to laugh and cry”* from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends and Before We Were Yours. All her life, Epiphany Salerno has been tossed like a dandelion seed on the wind. Now, at sixteen, she must move to the low-rent side of Blue Sky Hill and work where she''s not wanted: in an upscale home on The Hill. J. Norman Alvord''s daughter has hired a teenager to stay with him in the afternoons. Widowed and suffering from heart trouble, Norman wants to be left alone. But in Epie''s presence, Norman discovers a mystery. Deep in his mind lie memories of another house, another life, and a woman who saved him. As summer comes to Blue Sky Hill, two residents from different worlds will journey through a turbulent past, and find that with an unexpected road trip through sleepy Southern towns comes life-changing friendship...and clues to a family secret hidden for a lifetime. Winner of the 2012 Carol Award for Women''s Fiction from the American Christian Fiction Writers

Kai Miller floats through life like driftwood tossed by waves. She''s never put down roots in any one place--and she doesn''t plan to. But when a chaotic hurricane evacuation lands her in Daily, Texas, she begins to think twice about her wayfaring existence. And when she meets hometown-boy Kemp Eldridge, she can almost picture settling down in Daily--until she discovers he may be promised to someone else. Daily has always been a place of refuge for those the wind blows in, but for Kai, it looks like it will be just another place to leave behind. Then again, Daily always has a few surprises in store--especially when Aunt Donetta has cooked up a scheme.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends and Before We Were Yours comes a heartfelt novel about the bonds of family and the power of second chances. When Kate Bowman temporarily moves to her grandmother’s Missouri farm with her husband and baby son, she learns that the lessons that most enrich our lives often come unexpectedly. The family has given Kate the job of convincing Grandma Rose, who’s become increasingly stubborn and forgetful, to move off her beloved land and into a nursing home. But Kate knows such a change would break her grandmother’s heart. Just when Kate despairs of finding answers, she discovers her grandma’s journal. A beautiful handmade notebook, it is full of stories that celebrate the importance of family, friendship, and faith. Stories that make Kate see her life—and her grandmother—in a completely new way....

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Friends and Before We Were Yours explores the connection between our hearts and our pasts in this emotional novel in the Tending Roses series.... Once trapped in a world of poverty and neglect, Dell Jordan knows she was one of the lucky ones. Adopted at thirteen, she was loved, mentored, and encouraged to pursue her passion for music. By twenty, her future has expanded in exciting new directions—a year abroad with a traveling symphony, teaching music to orphans in Ukraine, and applying for a scholarship to Julliard. But underneath Dell’s smoothly polished surface lurk mysteries from the past. Why did her mother abandon her? Who was her father? Are there faces somewhere that look like hers—blood relatives she’s never met? Determined to find answers, and unable to share her emotional uncertainty with her adoptive family, Dell sets off on a secret journey into Oklahoma’s Kiamichi Mountains. Drawn by the only remaining link to her origins—a father’s Native American name on her birth certificate—she travels into quiet wooded valleys, into the heart of the modern Choctaw Nation. There she will find connections to a long and proud heritage and begin to answer the questions of her heart. In the voices of her ancestors, she’ll discover the keys to a future unlike anything she could have imagined.

USA TODAY AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER • “Wingate’s stellar latest explores a centuries-long legacy of missing child cases. . . . Her portrayal of the region’s history, culture, and landscape enthralls. Wingate is at the top of her game.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes “a sweeping tale about little known history” (People). 1990. Law enforcement ranger Valerie Boren-Odell arrives at Horsethief Trail National Park seeking a quiet place to raise her son. But no sooner has Valerie reported for duty than a teenage hiker goes missing and the long-hidden burial site of three children is discovered in a cave. Val’s quest to uncover the truth wins an ally among the Choctaw Nation’s Tribal Police but soon collides with the deadly legacy of the land itself. 1909. Eleven-year-old Olive Radley knows that her stepfather is a threat to the two Choctaw girls boarded in their home. When the older girl disappears, Ollie flees, taking six-year-old Nessa with her. Together they begin a perilous journey to the remote Winding Stair Mountains, the territory of outlaws, treasure hunters, and desperate men. Along the way, they form an unlikely band with other children struggling to get by on their own. In this gripping novel, Lisa Wingate traces the story of children abandoned by the law and the battle to see justice done. Amid times of deep conflict over who owns the land and its riches, Ollie and Val each leave behind one life in search of another.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the bestselling author of Before We Were Yours comes a dramatic historical novel of three young women searching for family amid the destruction of the post–Civil War South, and of a modern-day teacher who learns of their story and its vital connection to her students’ lives. “An absorbing historical . . . enthralling.”—Library Journal Bestselling author Lisa Wingate brings to life startling stories from actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, as newly freed slaves desperately searched for loved ones who had been sold away. Louisiana, 1875: In the tumultuous era of Reconstruction, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Hannie, a freed slave; Lavinia, the pampered heir to a now destitute plantation; and Juneau Jane, Lavinia’s Creole half sister. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas, following roads rife with vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane, the journey is one of stolen inheritance and financial desperation, but for Hannie, torn from her mother and siblings before slavery’s end, the pilgrimage west reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the limitless frontiers of Texas and, improbably, hope. Louisiana, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in a tiny, out-of-step Mississippi River town. Augustine, Louisiana, is suspicious of new ideas and new people, and Benny can scarcely comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and run-down plantation homes lie the century-old history of three young women, a long-ago journey, and a hidden book that could change everything.

In a time of crisis, two women come together and set off down a road of hope in this novel in the Tending Roses series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours. Twenty-year-old Jenilee Lane, whose dreams are as narrow as the sky is wide, doesn’t imagine any good could come out of the tornado that has ripped across the Missouri farmland where she makes her home. But some inner spark compels her to take action. To rescue her elderly neighbor Eudora Gibson from the cellar in which she’s been trapped. To make her way to the nearby town of Poetry, where the townspeople have begun to gather in the only building left standing. To collect from the devastated landscape fragments of life that lie strewn about in the tornado’s wake: letters, photographs, and mementos that might mean something to people who have lost everything. Eudora Gibson didn’t think Jenilee had it in her. But the girl she’s hardly noticed for years is now surprising her—stepping forward with a bravery that inspires Eudora to face her own bitter past. Brought close by tragedy, the two will learn lessons about the resilience of the human spirit and the ties that make a community strong. And together, they will travel to a place that once lay beyond their dreams.

Lauren Eldridge had avoided returning home to Daily, Texas, until her father confesses to being in over his head. Paying back an old favor, he''s invested in a horse that''s supposed to be the star of a new Hollywood movie. Only the horse won''t behave. And Lauren is the best trainer in the state. Convinced to return, she soon finds more than she bargained for when the movie''s screenwriter turns out to be leading-man handsome. This movie may be Nate Heath''s last shot at turning his career around. He didn''t have high hopes at first, but the town of Daily may be just what everyone needs to find hope and healing. And maybe even a little romance.

"Lisa Wingate writes with depth and warmth, joy and wit."--Debbie Macomber Heather Hampton returns to Moses Lake, Texas, to help facilitate the sale of a family farm as part of a planned industrial plant that will provide the area with much-needed jobs. Heather''s future fiance has brokered the deal, and Heather is in line to do her first large-scale architectural design--if the deal goes through. But the currents of Moses Lake have a way of taking visitors on unexpected journeys. What was intended to be a quick trip suddenly morphs into Valentine''s week--with Blaine Underhill, the handsome banker who just happens to be opposing Heather''s project. Spending the holiday in an ex-funeral parlor seems like a nightmare, but Heather slowly finds herself being drawn into the area''s history, hope, and heart.

" Not since To Kill a Mockingbird has a story impacted me like this." – COLLEEN COBLE, USA Today bestselling author of Seagrass Pier "Wingate is, quite simply, a master storyteller. Her story-within-a-story, penned with a fine, expressive style, will captivate writers and nonwriters alike." – Booklist Successful New York editor, Jen Gibbs, is at the top of her game with her new position at Vida House Publishing – until a mysterious manuscript from an old slush pile appears on her desk. Turning the pages, Jen finds herself drawn into the life of Sarra, a mixed-race Melungeon girl trapped by dangerous men in the turn of the century Appalachia. A risky hunch may lead to The Story Keeper''s hidden origins and its unknown author, but when the trail turns toward the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a place Jen thought she''d left behind forever, the price of a blockbuster next book deal may be higher than she''s willing to pay. A beautifully written contemporary novel with hints of romance Themes of forgiveness, family, returning home, and navigating brokenness Includes discussion questions for book clubs

From the #1 New York Times author of Before We Were Yours! I want to be like this stretch of freshly cleared shore. At times I think, I''m ready. Let the waves wash over me. But then I catch myself running from the tide just before it happens . . . New York editor Jen Gibbs knew when she bought Evan Hall''s next blockbuster book, it would change her career. She didn''t know it would change her life. But after being sent along on the European book tour, at Evan''s request, she has made a promise she''s not sure she can keep—she''s crossed professional lines and accepted Evan''s surprising engagement proposal. Now she''s scared to death. In Jen''s family, marriage represents the death of every dream a woman holds for herself. Can the revelation of her mother''s long-held secret open the doors to Jen''s future and change her beliefs about life and love?