“Love, The Old Fashioned Way” is Focus of Historical Pen-Pal Novel

July 7, 2008 - PRLog -- Return to the time when love and life were simple—when lovers courting chose words carefully in their letters rather than sending off yet another quick text message. When a young woman in the Wild West begins to receive anonymous letters, she falls in love with a man she’s never met in Linda Weaver Clarke’s “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger”.

Melinda and Gilbert live in the Wild West of Bear Lake, Idaho. When Melinda must be bedridden through the end of her pregnancy, her cousin, Edith, comes to help. Soon Melinda and Gilbert decide to play matchmaker and introduce Edith to the local young men. Edith, however, constantly finds fault with each man she meets until her marriage prospects begin to seem unlikely.

Then Edith’s mother gives her a letter from an anonymous man and tells her, “We truly don’t know men until we’re married because we never know the inner person.” However, by writing letters without trying to impress each other in person, Edith and her Mysterious Stranger come to know each other’s hearts and souls. Soon Edith finds herself falling in love with a man she has never met.

Clarke juxtaposes Edith’s Mysterious Stranger against David, a young ranch hand who falls in love with Gilbert’s daughter, Jenny. Unknown to Jenny, David is a “wanna-be outlaw.” Jenny does not suspect David’s true character and overlooks the hints at his wildness. She is completely clueless that David came to her father’s ranch intent on rustling their cattle. Will Jenny find out the truth about David before it’s too late? And will Edith’s Mysterious Stranger turn out to be the man she believes him to be?

Linda Weaver Clarke perfectly captures the Old West in her descriptions and tone. She does not focus on the sensational elements of gunfights only, but also the everyday lives of ordinary people. “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger” stands alone, but it is also part of a five novel series about the Roberts family. Clarke uses her own parents’ romance as the basis for Edith and the Mysterious Stranger’s letters. Clarke’s readers will find themselves longing for old-fashioned romance in their own lives.

About the Author
Linda Weaver Clarke was raised on a farm surrounded by the rolling hills of southern Idaho. She now makes her home in southern Utah among the beautiful red mountains and desert heat. Happily married for thirty-five years, she has six daughters and four wonderful grandchildren. Her novel "Melinda and the Wild West" was the Reader Views Literary Contest Semi-Finalist in the "Reviewers Choice Awards 2007." “Edith and the Mysterious Stranger” continues Clarke’s family saga of the Roberts family in the Wild West.

“Edith and the Mysterious Stranger” (ISBN 978-1481266741, Red Mountain Shadows Publishing) can be purchased through local and online bookstores. For more information, visit www.lindaweaverclarke.com.