Distant Hearts

Graduate student Jill Barnes is running out of time to produce a thesis while still struggling to come to terms with her mother's recent death. When a collection of papers belonging to a prominent 19th-century statesman become available for study, Barnes leaves her home and travels to Barnett County in middle Georgia to take advantage of the opportunity.The collection is everything she'd hoped, but Jill finds herself less and less able to concentrate on the task at hand. Grief over her mother's death is increasingly intruding into her thoughts and Barnett County is not the bucolic, rural community Jill assumed it would be. The county is divided and violence breaks out.In the midst of it all, Jill finds a Civil War diary among the statesman's papers that captures her life. In the diary she discovers a young woman's life and loss that mirrors her own. This first novel is about searching for answers to life's most basic questions and finding answers in the most unlikely places.

DISTANT HEARTS would not have been possible without the active participation of so many people, so expressing a sense of gratitude to each one of them. We extend our gratitude to the almighty for the wisdom and to parents for giving them a suitable niche to develop. They are highly obliged to their family and friends for inspiration and guidance. They acknowledge the co-authors with thanks for their efforts and cooperation. A heartfelt thanks to the editors, designers and other social media partners who made the book a success for the publication and the authors. Thank you.

The author who is “unparalleled in the world of romantic fiction” beautifully evokes all the complexities of modern-day India—and the human heart (Kristan Higgins). Her name means “miracle” in Sanskrit, and to her parents, that’s exactly what Kimaya is. The first baby to survive after several miscarriages, Kimi grows up in a mansion at the top of Mumbai’s Pali Hill, surrounded by love and privilege. But at eleven years old, she develops a rare illness that requires her to be confined to a germ-free ivory tower in her home, with only the Arabian Sea churning outside her window for company . . . until one person dares venture into her world. Tasked at fourteen years old with supporting his family, Rahul Savant shows up to wash Kimi’s windows, and an unlikely friendship develops across the plastic curtain of her isolation room. As years pass, Rahul becomes Kimi’s eyes to the outside world—and she becomes his inspiration to better himself by enrolling in the police force. But when a life-saving heart transplant offers the chance of a real future, both must face all that ties them together—and all that keeps them apart . . . Praise for Sonali Dev and A Change of Heart “In Dev’s seductive and complex story of love lost and then found, one layer of mystery leads to the next . . . Will hold a permanent place in readers’ hearts.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Mystery, adventure, and romance are spiced with Bollywood glamour in this heart-stopping novel . . . Riveting.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Two wounded souls. One loving, relentless God. Welcome to Burning Dress Ranch. Miss Sally, the mysterious and secretive owner of Burning Dress, established the operation with a very particular mission—to make sure her charges leave with a useful skill, and to share the love of Christ with their hurting, wounded souls. Cecelia Huggins, broken by a bitter, shameful divorce, has come to Burning Dress to take control of her own destiny. She wants to work and learn. She doesn’t want friends, and she certainly doesn’t ever want to fall in love again. Jax Taylor is foreman of the Burning Dress and he’s the perfect man for the job. Most of the ranch hands are women who are healing from some pretty tough blows. Just like them, he’s pushing past his own hurts and would rather drink poison than fall in love again. Miss Sally has had some tough cases before but Cecelia and Jax may be the toughest. How do you convince two stubborn hearts that the only way to find rest for their souls is to give in to love?

Valley of the Shadows is a duet of two novels, concerning the fickleness of pursuing fame in a society that measures success by media adoration. In the title novel, Marya Brooks, an experienced poet in her seventies, decides to practice amateur obeah (voodoo) to cast negative spells on her favorite top five poets, the thriving competition. Only when each poet begins to die mysteriously does she develop guilt for her actions. Her former student, H.D., believes her research can dispute Marya's fallacious theories. Surrender, the second poem-novel, alternates between viewpoints of Rory Pole, an aspiring songwriter, and her idol, country music rising star, Maggie Moore. Also set in the southeast, primarily on both coasts of southern Florida, Rory is bitter when she receives no response from Maggie but notices that lines of her poems begin appearing in the singer's songs. In both novels, all characters eventually give up illusions and false patterns of behavior in these chilling stories, regarding the relevance of mass recognition and inordinate acclaim and adulation. They are novels-of-the-future, in accord with Anais Nin's tenets that commingle art with moral issues for compelling psychological literature.