Sarah Martin Byrd

Can a person inherit the wickedness of an evil parent? Are we forever shackled to our father's sins? No one should know the answer to this better than nineteen-year-old Katherine Paddington. She finally sees an end to her own misery when her Uncle Ben is jailed for the murder of his brother. But, lurking in the coal mine shadows is none other than Ben Paddington's very own son, Benny Bauguess. After searching unsuccessfully for her son's daddy for twenty years, Trudy sees the mugshot of her old boyfriend on a news broadcast. Only, Ben is in the state penitentiary in Wheeling, West Virginia, and Trudy has not seen him since Benny's conception. Benny and Trudy begin the six-hundred-mile journey from Folly Beach to Wheeling to confront the scoundrel who left Trudy to raise her son on her own. But what does Benny really want? His father's love . . . or revenge on him and his wealthy family? In this sequel to In the Coal Mine Shadows, Katherine knows she must start a new life after her Grandmother Mame and Grandfather Clint pass away, but will the coal mine shadows of her past control her future away from the hills of West Virginia? Will Katherine succeed in making a new life for herself in North Carolina, away from the lies and deceit of her forefathers? Or, will the sins of yesteryear haunt her and her cousin Benny forever?

Mary Margaret "Mame" Blackwell yearns for a way out of the sleepy little town of Beckley. After a coal mine explosion kills her father in 1922, pretty little Mame is not willing to accept her mother's hardscrabble plan for farming burley tobacco in rural West Virginia, but trying to survive in a nearly deserted coal mining town without a father in the early 1900s is anything but easy. When Mame eagerly leaves home on her first trip to Charleston at age 19, she meets tobacco heir Clint Paddington and sees her chance to move up in the world. Unaware at first of their families' shared connection to tragedy, Mame makes wild, na ve choices that expose both families to even deeper dangers for generations to come. Watch the damage escalate in this gritty Southern saga as ambition and romance go awry, adding betrayal, kidnapping, rape, and even murder to the mining tragedy. Do children inherit the sins of their fathers? Do dark forces walk the earth? Will Mame's secrets push her to madness? Or will her solid roots in the coal mining country help her survive her mistakes, or, at least, be forgiven of them?

Callie Mae McCauley knows a girl's got to be leathery, or she'll be tore to pieces by the weight of all her troubles and trials . . . The tragedy Callie endures will forever change her simple, yet full life in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Orphaned at age eight, she must move to her Granny Jane's, where she soon realizes the shock of what she's seen has stolen her voice.A new neighbor and Granny Jane's swarm of honeybees help Callie find her tongue. She soon discovers that, although Chloe Combs may be peculiar, Miss Chloe may be her only friend when her uncles come to claim their share of Granny Jane's land that straddles the New River. Her uncles have a plan, and they won't let anything or anyone stand in their way, certainly not their niece Callie. When Callie ends up in an orphanage, she knows a mountain girl can't be held inside walls of plaster and wood. A mountain girl's got to feel the earth beneath her feet and listen as the river makes sweet music in her ears.But time is running out for Callie to save the New River--her river--from her greedy uncles' plan.

What really happened the night Jesus was born?Matty's mother tells him he will take part in the most important thing ever to happen in history. Why him, a meek and lowly stable mouse? All Matty the manger mouse wants to do is snuggle into the warmth of his mother and fall asleep but the Creator of the world has another plan for him. Will the little stable mouse surrender to his own needs or bow to the will of the Savior?Children and adults will be touched by Matty's brave little heart. As the story of that first Christmas unfolds, come join Matty and all the other stable dwellers portrayed in lush and charming pastel illustrations.

What really happened the night Jesus was born?Matty's mother tells him he will take part in the most important thing ever to happen in history. Why him, a meek and lowly stable mouse? All Matty the manger mouse wants to do is snuggle into the warmth of his mother and fall asleep but the Creator of the world has another plan for him. Will the little stable mouse surrender to his own needs or bow to the will of the Savior?Children and adults will be touched by Matty's brave little heart. As the story of that first Christmas unfolds, come join Matty and all the other stable dwellers portrayed in lush and charming pastel illustrations.