Blessed Assurance: Whispers of Love, Lost in His Love, Echoes of Mercy

Lyn Cote's "Blessed Assurance" saga pits three generations of heroines against the inequities of their times. In Whispers of Love, a civil war widow, Jesse Wagstaff, supports herself and her son by running a boarding house. Leland "Lee" Harper Granger is a Civil War veteran who served as a Union doctor with Jessie's late husband Will. Will's last request before he died was, "Lee, take care of Jessie and my boy." But Lee has drunk away the past six years trying to forget the horrors of practicing Civil War medicine. Finally, in April 1871, Lee comes to Chicago to keep this overdue promise. But still wanting to keep his past secret, he assumes the name of another fallen comrade, Lee Smith. After suffering from a harsh stepfather, Jessie has vowed never to remarry and subject her son to the same experience. But as Lee forms a fast friendship with her son Linc, Jessie allows Lee to become a part of her life. How can she send Lee away when Linc idolizes him? But just when layers of lies and halftruths finally come undone, Jessie, Lee, and Linc must face the trial of the Great Chicago Fire. In Lost in His Love, social activist Lincoln Wagstaff charms his way through the upper class of San Francisco to build muchneeded support for his fight against child labor. Along the way he meets Cecilia Jackson, a rich and beautiful heiress who doesn't recognize the crucial part she plays in this dangerous exploitation. As Lincoln struggles to win justice for child laborers in the new Industrial Age, Cecilia must revive her own wounded conscience and find the faith to lean of Lincoln's strength and the neverfailing love of God. In Echoes of Mercy, Meg Wagstaff has just returned from volunteering in WWI France and plans to begin law school. But when her father receives a telegram from a New Orleans parish attorney with the news that Del DuBois (an AfricanAmerican family friend who was raised as close as a brother to Meg) has been arrested for the murder of his white boss, Meg leaves immediately to set the record straight. Del is innocent and she'll prove it. As Del's life hangs in the balance, Meg's most irritating challenge proves to be Gabriel St. Clair, the New Orleans parish attorney who is prosecuting Del's case. St Clair is an authentic Southern gentleman who makes the mistake of underestimating Meg. But as he gets to know Meg, and witnesses her true friendship with Del, Gabe sees for the first time that friendship is possible between a white woman and a black man. When Meg is kidnapped, will Gabe find her before she pays the price for challenging the racial barriers of the South?