Fallen Branches

Rachel Brenham, bright, beautiful and confident, returns home from boarding school with visions ahead of her time about her role as a modern woman in the quickly evolving social and industrial scene in England's Buckingham midlands during the 1800s.

Her contemporary views are quickly put to question as her wealthy father, whose hidden motives threaten to unravel Rachel's new visions of herself, has arranged a marriage to her childhood nemesis.

Raucous, irresponsible, and often drunk, Emory Guersten is the ultimate opposition to the future Rachel hopes to establish.

Determined not to be reduced to her former insecure self, Rachel approaches her wedding day with unyielding resolve, but she is affronted when the handsome Emory fails to materialize on the cold, snowy day of their nuptials, sending a proxy to stand in for him instead.

Burning at this humiliation, Rachel embarks on a challenging journey to maintain her dignity, her marriage, and ultimately her family legacy.

-- E. B. Naddaff