Lynn Austin

He has achieved enormous wealth and power--yet there is no heir.The legacy Hezekiah has established as one of Judah's great leaders is threatened: his beloved wife, Hephzibah, remains barren. Desperate to provide a successor to her husband's throne, Hephzibah makes a forbidden pact with the fertility goddess Asherah.Feeling repulsed and betrayed by her act of idolatry, Hezekiah destroys the pagan shrine. But in his rage, he himself is critically injured. As Hezekiah struggles to redeem his wife and save his nation, the aged prophet Isaiah arrives with divine instructions for the king to put his house in order and choose a successor.With his life--and the future of his kingdom--hanging in the balance, Hezekiah once more cries out to the Lord . . .

He has been challenged on every side--can his newly discovered faith help him preserve a nation?As King Hezekiah embraces God's Law, he leads his country into renewed prosperity. But following the will of Yahweh is a perplexing process, requiring unpopular choices--for both his personal life and political career. Now his archenemy's demands for tribute are forcing Hezekiah into a precarious situation.Jerusha, a young Jewish woman far from home, has seen firsthand what the dreaded invaders are capable of doing. As the powerful Assyrian army sweeps through the northern provinces, leaving little but devastation in its wake, Jerusha longs to escape. Her desperate will to live could become a link to Jerusalem's survival. With Assyria on the march, moving closer to the heart of Judah, Hezekiah's decision to follow the everlasting One is about to face the ultimate test.

He was born to rule the people of God . . . but Yahweh is only a vague, powerless memory in the minds of his people.Though born the second son of King Ahaz, Hezekiah is not protected from his father's perverted attempts to gain the favor of the idol Molech. Terrified and powerless at the foot of Molech's altar, Hezekiah encounters for the first time the one true God of his royal ancestry, Yahweh.But his journey to the Holy One is riddled by influence from an assortment of men: Zechariah, a grandfather of noble standing who has fallen into drunkenness; Uriah, the High Priest whose lust for power forces him to gamble the faith he proclaims; and Shebna, the Egyptian intellectual who guides Hezekiah's instruction.For the two women who love Hezekiah, the meaning of love--and its sacrificial essence--will direct the course of their lives and help shape the young prince's future.

A deep yearning for home had led Eliza to Wyatt Orchards ten years ago. Now widowed with three young children, she faces mounting debts and the realization it is all up to her. But she has no idea how to run an orchard alone. When a stranger appears at her doorstep, Eliza guesses he is no different than the other out-of-luck characters searching for work during the Depression. But the familiarity with which Gabe tends to the farm raises unanswered questions. With a vulnerable heart, she is unwittingly drawn to his gentle ways. But Eliza also fears that Gabe hides a past and motives that could jeopardize all she has fought to attain for herself and her children....

When her granddaughter's marriage begins to come apart, eighty-year-old Emma Bauer must finally confront the truth she has guarded for more than fifty years--a secret that has affected the lives of four generations of women in her family. Original.