About the Book
Book: Trail to Love
Author: Susan F. Craft
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release date: September 17, 2024
A widowed father…a heartbroken nanny…and a wagon train journey that will change their lives forever.
Since the death of her fiancé, Anne Forbes has given up on the life she thought she’d have. After taking a role as nanny to her two young nephews, she’s grown close to her brother’s family—a replacement for the one she never had the chance to start. But when she accompanies them on the wagon trail to their new life in South Carolina, a handsome and gallant widowed father who’s also part of the group catches her eye and her heart, making her wonder if God might have plans of love for her after all. If only the beautiful woman the man escorts didn’t have her sights set on him.
Michael Harrigan never considered remarrying after the death of his wife. No woman could ever compare. But when he meets the gentlehearted Anne while escorting his sister-in-law on their journey to the Blue Ridge Mountains, he’s taken aback by Anne’s lovely voice and her compassion. As they face the trials and adventures of life on the trail, he finds himself open to the idea of marriage for the first time in many years.
But when disaster strikes the wagon train, Michael and Anne must work side-by-side to save lives. In the midst of their struggles, can they find a way to abandon their separate trails of grief and hardship for the trail to love?
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About the Author
Susan F. Craft retired after a 45-year career in writing, editing, and communicating in business settings.
She authored the historical romantic suspense trilogy Women of the American Revolution—The Chamomile, Laurel, and Cassia. The Chamomile and Cassia received national Illumination Silver Awards. The Chamomile was named by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance as an Okra Pick and was nominated for a Christy Award.
She collaborated with the International Long Riders’ Guild Academic Foundation to compile An Equestrian Writer’s Guide(www.lrgaf.org), including almost everything you’d ever want to know about horses.
An admitted history nerd, she enjoys painting, singing, listening to music, and sitting on her porch with her dog, Steeler, watching geese eat her daylilies. She most recently took up the ukulele.
More from Susan
A History of Buttons
In my Christian Historical Romance, my main character, Anne Forbes, is a tailor and seamstress. When she arrives in Philadelphia from Scotland in 1753, she visits several shops and is amazed by the huge supply of buttons.
Buttons have been around for 3,000 years. Made from bone, horn, wood, metal, and seashells, they didn’t fasten anything, but were worn for decoration.
The first buttons to be used as fasteners were connected through a loop of thread. The button and buttonhole arrived in Europe in 1200, brought back by the Crusaders.
The French, who called the button a bouton for bud or bouter to push, established the Button Makers Guild in 1250. Still used for adornment, the buttons they produced were beautiful works of art.
By the mid-1300s, tailors fashioned garments with rows of buttons with matching buttonholes. Some outfits were adorned with thousands of buttons, making it necessary for people to hire professional dressers. Buttons became such a craze that the Church denounced them as the devil’s snare, referring to the ladies in their button-fronted dresses.
In 1520 for a meeting between King Francis I of France and King Henry VIII of England, King Francis’ clothing was bedecked with over 13,000 buttons, and King Henry’s clothing was similarly weighed down with buttons.
In the 16th century, the Puritans condemned the over-adornment of buttons as sinful, and soon the number of buttons required to be fashionable diminished, though they were made from gold, ivory, and diamonds.
By the mid-1600s, button makers used silver, ceramics, and silk and often hand painted buttons with portraits or scenery.
The late 17th century saw the beginning of the production by French tailors of thread buttons, little balls of thread. This angered the button artisans so much that they pressured the government to pass a law fining tailors for making thread buttons. The button makers even wanted homes and wardrobes searched and suggested that fines be levied against anyone wearing thread buttons. But in la Guerre des Boutons, it’s not clear that their demands went beyond fining of tailors.
Towards the end of the 1700s in Europe, big metallic buttons came into fashion. At this time, Napoleon introduced the use of sleeve buttons on tunics. This time period saw the development of the double-breasted jacket. When the outside of the jacket was soiled, the wearer would unbutton it, turn the soiled surface to the inside, and re-button.
Thread buttons were used on men’s shirts and other undergarments from the late 17th into the early 19th century. Cheaper, they wouldn’t break when laundresses scrubbed and beat the material. They were also used on shifts and undergarments because they were soft and comfortable. Other types of thread buttons were death head buttons, star buttons, basket buttons, and Dorset buttons. Some said that death head buttons were called that because they resembled a skull and crossbones, memento mori, a reminder that life is short and should be lived as well as possible. Dorset buttons originated in Dorset in southern England where they became a cottage industry. Families, prison inmates, and orphans were employed in the manufacture of thousands of Dorset buttons each year, which were used throughout the UK and exported all over the world.
Bone button molds, slightly domed on one side and flat on the other, were common in the mid to late 18th century. Button molds were used to make both cloth and thread (passementerie) covered buttons.
Horn buttons were used mostly for spatterdashes and gaitered trousers. These strong durable buttons were competitive in price with other types but available in limited numbers in the 18th century since the making of them was slow.
Many colonial American buttons were made from seashells, wood, wax, and animal bones. The bones were boiled for 12 hours, cut into small pieces, shaved around the edges and had a hole punched through them with an awl. The shape was up to the maker — round, oval, square, rectangular, or octagonal.
Brass buttons, functional and ornamental, were also popular in colonial America. In 1750 in Philadelphia, a German immigrant, Caspar Wistar, made brass buttons guaranteed for seven years. He later opened the first successful glass making factory in the colonies.
(I want to thank the William Booth Drapers of Racine, WI, for some of the information provided in this post. Please visit their website at http://www.wmboothdraper.com where you’ll find a treasure trove of books about 17th and 18th century fashion — shoes, slippers, hats, bonnets, buttons and trimmings, etc., and Packet books about sewing. Fantastic resource. Thank you, William Booth Drapers.)
My Impressions
“…there’s something about this country. Being around the people on this train. Hearing about their hopes and dreams has inspired me in a way I haven’t been in years. I crave more than what I had. I dream of becoming an independent woman…a tailor…with my own shop.” ~Anne
Susan F. Craft’s series, The Great Wagon Road, has added a new, exciting third book, Trail to Love. Can Michael Harrigan, a young widower, accompanied in the wagon train by his sister-in-law and her flirtatious friend, make a favorable impression on Anne Forbes? Anne has immigrated from Scotland with her brother’s family, acting as nanny but also employing skills as a tailor and seamstress. The dangers and problems the wagon train and Michael and Anne in particular run into are very believable.
Anne seems so capable of doing almost anything needed, plus having a calming, take charge attitude, I was actually relieved to see her have a few flaws! However, I loved seeing how she chose to forgive others that wronged her, making friends out of those who could have been enemies.
I was most impressed by Michael’s quick thought to turn to prayer in trouble and his leadership ability, as well as his quickness to help those in need.
It was fun to see the beauty of the country through the eyes of someone who had never seen much of America before. It was really interesting also, to see how the adventuresome, entrepreneurial attitude of the settlers was something that drew one in and attached itself to others.
A fave character in the book is Cate. So grown-up, polite, yet adventurous and loving all in one package.
Author’s notes at the back offer some insight into different historical aspects of the story.
I received a copy of the book from Celebrate Lit, plus I bought my own copy. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own.
Notable Quotables:
“You have lived more in these past months than some experience in a lifetime.” ~Iris
“She had once held a piece of rare satin in her hands, made a wrong cut, and damaged it beyond repair. Would she repeat that mistake with this life-changing decision?”
“Frightened people do strange things.”
My Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Great! This has been an enjoyable, learning series for me!
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, October 8
Simple Harvest Reads, October 9 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 10
DevotedToHope, October 10
Lighthouse Academy Blog, October 11 (Guest Review from Marilyn Ridgway)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 12
Texas Book-aholic, October 13
For Him and My Family, October 13
lakesidelivingsite, October 14
Locks, Hooks and Books, October 15
An Author’s Take, October 16
Blossoms and Blessings , October 16
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, October 17
Life on Chickadee Lane, October 18
Karen Baney Reviews, October 19
Holly’s Book Corner, October 19
Books You Can Feel Good About, October 20
Cover Lover Book Review, October 21
Pause for Tales, October 21
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Susan is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon card!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions 