A Reluctant Belle

By Beth White

Description:

Impoverished Southern belle Joelle Daughtry has a secret. By day she has been helping her sisters in their quest to turn the run-down family plantation into a resort hotel after the close of the Civil War. But by night and under a male pseudonym, she has been penning articles for the local paper in support of the construction of a Negro school. With the Mississippi arm of the Ku Klux Klan gaining power and prestige, Joelle knows she is playing a dangerous game.

When childhood enemy and current investor in the Daughtry house renovation Schuyler Beaumont takes over his assassinated father's candidacy for state office, Joelle finds that in order to protect her family and her home, she and Schuyler will have to put aside their longstanding personal conflict and develop a united public front. The trouble is, what do you do when animosity becomes respect--and even love--if you're already engaged to someone else?

Book Takeaway:

Spiritual courage takes all sorts of odd forms, but it always loves, always serves others. And it brings surprising rewards.

Awards:

Why the author wrote this book:

This is book two in a series set in Reconstruction Era Mississippi. I wanted to explore ways Southern Christian women who objected to slavery recovered from the destitution of war and found footing in new times.