Sunday, October 13, 2024

About the Book

Book: Trail to Love

Author:Susan F. Craft

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release date: September 17, 2024

A widowed father…a heartbroken nanny…and a wagon train journey that will change their lives forever.

Since the death of her fiancé, Anne Forbes has given up on the life she thought she’d have. After taking a role as nanny to her two young nephews, she’s grown close to her brother’s family—a replacement for the one she never had the chance to start. But when she accompanies them on the wagon trail to their new life in South Carolina, a handsome and gallant widowed father who’s also part of the group catches her eye and her heart, making her wonder if God might have plans of love for her after all. If only the beautiful woman the man escorts didn’t have her sights set on him.

Michael Harrigan never considered remarrying after the death of his wife. No woman could ever compare. But when he meets the gentlehearted Anne while escorting his sister-in-law on their journey to the Blue Ridge Mountains, he’s taken aback by Anne’s lovely voice and her compassion. As they face the trials and adventures of life on the trail, he finds himself open to the idea of marriage for the first time in many years.
But when disaster strikes the wagon train, Michael and Anne must work side-by-side to save lives. In the midst of their struggles, can they find a way to abandon their separate trails of grief and hardship for the trail to love?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Susan F. Craft retired after a 45-year career in writing, editing, and communicating in business settings.

She authored the historical romantic suspense trilogy Women of the American Revolution—The Chamomile, Laurel, and Cassia. The Chamomile and Cassia received national Illumination Silver Awards. The Chamomile was named by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance as an Okra Pick and was nominated for a Christy Award.

She collaborated with the International Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation to compile An Equestrian Writer’s Guide(www.lrgaf.org), including almost everything you’d ever want to know about horses.

An admitted history nerd, she enjoys painting, singing, listening to music, and sitting on her porch with her dog, Steeler, watching geese eat her daylilies. She most recently took up the ukulele.

More from Susan

A History of Buttons

In my Christian Historical Romance, my main character, Anne Forbes, is a tailor and seamstress. When she arrives in Philadelphia from Scotland in 1753, she visits several shops and is amazed by the huge supply of buttons.

Buttons have been around for 3,000 years. Made from bone, horn, wood, metal, and seashells, they didn’t fasten anything, but were worn for decoration.

The first buttons to be used as fasteners were connected through a loop of thread. The button and buttonhole arrived in Europe in 1200, brought back by the Crusaders.

The French, who called the button a bouton for bud or bouter to push, established the Button Makers Guild in 1250. Still used for adornment, the buttons they produced were beautiful works of art.

By the mid-1300s, tailors fashioned garments with rows of buttons with matching buttonholes. Some outfits were adorned with thousands of buttons, making it necessary for people to hire professional dressers. Buttons became such a craze that the Church denounced them as the devil’s snare, referring to the ladies in their button-fronted dresses.

In 1520 for a meeting between King Francis I of France and King Henry VIII of England, King Francis’ clothing was bedecked with over 13,000 buttons, and King Henry’s clothing was similarly weighed down with buttons.

In the 16th century, the Puritans condemned the over-adornment of buttons as sinful, and soon the number of buttons required to be fashionable diminished, though they were made from gold, ivory, and diamonds.

By the mid-1600s, button makers used silver, ceramics, and silk and often hand painted buttons with portraits or scenery.

The late 17th century saw the beginning of the production by French tailors of thread buttons, little balls of thread. This angered the button artisans so much that they pressured the government to pass a law fining tailors for making thread buttons. The button makers even wanted homes and wardrobes searched and suggested that fines be levied against anyone wearing thread buttons. But in la Guerre des Boutons, it’s not clear that their demands went beyond fining of tailors.

Towards the end of the 1700s in Europe, big metallic buttons came into fashion. At this time, Napoleon introduced the use of sleeve buttons on tunics. This time period saw the development of the double-breasted jacket. When the outside of the jacket was soiled, the wearer would unbutton it, turn the soiled surface to the inside, and re-button.

Thread buttons were used on men’s shirts and other undergarments from the late 17th into the early 19th century. Cheaper, they wouldn’t break when laundresses scrubbed and beat the material. They were also used on shifts and undergarments because they were soft and comfortable. Other types of thread buttons were death head buttons, star buttons, basket buttons, and Dorset buttons. Some said that death head buttons were called that because they resembled a skull and crossbones, memento mori, a reminder that life is short and should be lived as well as possible. Dorset buttons originated in Dorset in southern England where they became a cottage industry. Families, prison inmates, and orphans were employed in the manufacture of thousands of Dorset buttons each year, which were used throughout the UK and exported all over the world.

Bone button molds, slightly domed on one side and flat on the other, were common in the mid to late 18th century. Button molds were used to make both cloth and thread (passementerie) covered buttons.

Horn buttons were used mostly for spatterdashes and gaitered trousers. These strong durable buttons were competitive in price with other types but available in limited numbers in the 18th century since the making of them was slow.

Many colonial American buttons were made from seashells, wood, wax, and animal bones. The bones were boiled for 12 hours, cut into small pieces, shaved around the edges and had a hole punched through them with an awl. The shape was up to the maker — round, oval, square, rectangular, or octagonal.

Brass buttons, functional and ornamental, were also popular in colonial America. In 1750 in Philadelphia, a German immigrant, Caspar Wistar, made brass buttons guaranteed for seven years. He later opened the first successful glass making factory in the colonies.

(I want to thank the William Booth Drapers of Racine, WI, for some of the information provided in this post. Please visit their website at www.wmboothdraper.com where you’ll find a treasure trove of books about 17th and 18th century fashion — shoes, slippers, hats, bonnets, buttons and trimmings, etc., and Packet books about sewing. Fantastic resource. Thank you, William Booth Drapers.)

MY REVIEW

This is a wonderful book that explores traveling by wagon on treacherous land. The story captures what it was like during the 1700s. Families were excited to reach their destination but soon they will find challenges that will test their faith. It was easy to imagine myself on the wagon train as the dust surround the travelers.

There is tragedy as a disease spreads throughout the wagon train before they are ready to start their journey. I liked how several characters stepped up to help the sick. Anne is one of those who helps others even when she suffers a great loss. The author does a great job of illustrating the hardships travelers faced and how Anne was a strong and humble person. I liked how she makes a hard decision which puts her on a path to a new beginning.

Michael is a good man who has seen pain and loss in his life. When he helps Anne care for the sick, they form a relationship. He has such a good heart and is there to help others in need. I liked that he was never selfish and always thought of others first.

The story follows a group of people who long for a better life and hope for the future. The faith element in the story is strong and shows how the characters turned to God in time of need. It is a beautiful story where faith is tested, people work together and overcoming obstacles that bring them closer to each other and God. The ending is beautifully written and givers readers an illustration of how God helps others forgive, find hope and understand unconditional love.

“Sometimes things are more valuable if they are difficult to get.”

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.