Cary Flanagan

Continuing the story of the Benson-Stone family, Sarah Benson, not yet eighteen leaves her family and the small New England community where she was raised.Sarah is the only one who knows she is pregnant when she boards the train heading west in 1898. She travels with James, a man she loves but barely knows, and his dreams of becoming a cowboy become her own. Against her parent's wishes, she leaves behind her stifling family home in New Hampshire and with the idealism and naivety of youth, they board a train, for a life-changing adventure in the Arizona Frontier.On the way, Sarah tells James about the baby and when they arrive in Flagstaff, they marry. Soon a rancher offers James and Sarah work on an isolated ranch. Sarah grows to love her independence and the wide-open skies of the west, but James's drinking and gambling cause a rift between them. After her daughter is born, her marriage to James begins to unravel, and James becomes violent. Sarah flees to her parents, hoping to make up for past mistakes, but realizes that New Hampshire is no longer where she belongs.A yearning for the west and the possibility to live free and love again takes her back to Arizona for a final confrontation with James and the chance to build a life she can embrace on her own terms.This is the second book in a historical fiction series, Hannah's Legacy. Sarah Benson is the eldest daughter of Hannah Stone, the matriarch of the Benson/Stone family from After the Storm.Readers who enjoyed the novels of Nancy Turner, Janette Oke, Kristin Hannah, and Robyn Carr, will love this story.

The second edition of "After the Storm" contains added content and a new cover. This historical novel shares the unforgettable story of a 19th-century quilter through some of the most challenging times in American history. This story is told "in her own words" through a lifetime of diary entries and a memoir she dictated to a grandchild shortly before her death.Hannah Applegate Benson Stone weathered many personal storms in her life yet found strength in her family, friends, and her own resilience. Orphaned at four years old during the Civil War and raised by a caring aunt in a small New England farming community, she grew from a frightened child to a confident woman and successful quilt pattern designer. At a time when women had few opportunities available to them, she witnessed and participated in sweeping changes as her small world expanded.This fictional memoir is based on many of the author's own life experiences and those of her family transposed to another time. These "memories" bring Hannah's story to life. Readers will experience for themselves what it was like to grow up without any of the modern conveniences we take for granted and the excitement of discovering one's own abilities and strengths. They will mourn and rejoice with Hannah as she loses her first love but finds new love a second time in this enduring story of loss and renewal.