In this final installment of a historical fiction trilogy, a 19th-century woman tries to restart her life in the aftermath of a tragedy but is haunted by an uncertain danger.

Elizabeth Sonnefelt lives an “idyllic” life—she’s married to Matthew, whom she dearly loves, and makes her living as a schoolteacher in Misty Creek, Kansas, a job that inspires her. But recently she narrowly eluded catastrophe—Leon Simns, a repulsive man, tried to kill both her and her husband, and when he failed, he turned his rifle on himself. His last words doggedly pursue her and have the tincture of a threat: “This one’s for Billy.” She can’t be certain who this Billy is who might come one day to avenge Leon—the obvious candidate is a teenage son apparently as ungovernably angry as his father. In addition, William Clark, the president of the school board, hates her passionately—he has repeatedly tried to get her fired and, much to his chagrin, failed. Elizabeth draws strength from her profound Christian faith as well as the steadfast love of her husband. But she can’t stop anxiously awaiting the next attempt on her life, an unsettling expectancy artfully depicted by Vander Velden. The author displays a keen eye for psychological nuance; all of the characters (and there is a legion of them) are developed with great care and insight. Unfortunately, Vander Velden often indulges in sentimentality—consider these comforting platitudes conveyed by Matthew to Elizabeth: “I don’t know where life will take us, but I promise, wherever it will be, you won’t have to face it alone. Life’s got more for us, Beth. More than the stars, more than what was before today.” And the novel is needlessly long—at well over 600 pages, it is in need of an editor’s scalpel. Nevertheless, this is an impressively thoughtful work, both dramatically exciting and emotionally captivating.

An intelligent and engaging literary meditation on love and spirituality.

In this 19th-century drama, a woman heads to the desolate wilderness of Kansas in order to shake disturbing memories.

Elizabeth Beck suffers a transformative emotional trauma—the man she deeply loves, Jameson Elders, abandons her on their wedding day. Utterly devastated, she answers an advertisement for a new teacher’s position in Misty Creek, a small town in Kansas, a long way from her native Columbus, Ohio. This search for meaning and emotional restoration in what turns out to be a “barren wasteland” is sensitively depicted by Vander Velden: “When she had left Columbus, what seemed an eternity ago, she felt confident she would find freedom from painful memories. A new life, new possibilities but this emptiness, a world devoid of hope could not be the answer she sought.” She’s astonished by the bleakness of the land and the “seemingly unending emptiness,” conditions that force a hard, “tenuous life” on its inhabitants. But danger lurks even in the vast nothingness of her new environment—Elizabeth believes she is being spied on, even stalked, and discovers that five teachers before her left suddenly and without explanation. The author artfully juxtaposes the sullen wretchedness of Kansas’ prairies with the gloominess of Elizabeth’s broken heart. And an unlikely friendship she forges with local miller Matthew Sonnefelt—a “tall dusty man, a man of labor” who initially leaves her “repulsed”—is intelligently, delicately crafted. The story unfolds patiently, even languorously at times, but never slows to a tedious pace—Vander Velden’s precisely incisive prose and the plot’s simmering violence will keep readers reliably engrossed. This is a haunting story, quietly powerful and moving.

An emotionally profound exploration of heartbreak.