This is a American Civil War book which I very seldom read which is probably the reason I've had this on my TBR shelf for 14 years. For some reason it appealed to me yesterday. I'm glad it did. The book was very well written and researched which I find is typical of Anita Mills. The hero, Spence, is a surgeon who became tired of medicine after 5 years in the Confederate Army cutting off limbs. When he goes home to his wife and child after the war, he discovers she had run off to San Francisco with another man taking Spence's son with them. He heads west to find them. Along the way he runs into the widow of a soldier he had known and stops to help her. Laura is alone and pregnant in the railroad workers camp where her husband was working when he died. Spence, trapped by the winter weather, stays with her over the winter and they fall in love.

This was a lovely story. There were large sections that took place before they got together that might drag for a reader who insists that the two main characters be together in every scene. But I didn't even really notice. It made the story seem more real. They also fell in love and got married before the end and the last third of the book showed them adjusting to their marriage and searching for Spence's son. I particularly enjoyed that as I like to see a new couple learning to adjust to marriage. I like it when stories aren't over just because the principles said "I do".

Laura was a nice character. She was strong and proud, practical and loving. Spence was pretty injured and it took Laura to help him heal.

This was not just a wall paper historical. You got a real sense of time and place. I recommend it for lovers of true historically correct romances. ( )