The Bride of Ivy Green by Julie Klassen

The Bride of Ivy Green by Julie Klassen - 444 pages

Much has happened in idyllic Ivy Hill in recent months, and while several villagers have found new love and purpose, questions remain--and a few dearly held dreams have yet to be fulfilled.

Jane Bell is torn. Gabriel Locke is back and has made his intentions clear. But Jane is reluctant to give up her inn and destine another man to a childless marriage. Then someone she never expected to see again returns to Ivy Hill. . . .

Mercy Grove has lost her school and is resigned to life as a spinster, especially as the man she admires seems out of reach. Should she uproot herself from Ivy Cottage to become a governess for a former pupil? Her decision will change more lives than her own.

A secretive new dressmaker arrives in the village, but the ladies soon suspect she isn't who she claims to be. Will they oust the imposter, or help rescue her from a dangerous predicament?

In the meantime, everyone expects Miss Brockwell to marry a titled gentleman, even though her heart is drawn to another. While the people of Ivy Hill anticipate one wedding, an unexpected bride may surprise them all.

Jacksonland by Steve Inskeep

Jacksonland by Steve Inskeep - 421 pages

President Andrew Jackson, Cherokee Chief John Ross, and the Great American Land Grab

Five decades after the Revolutionary War, the United States approached a constitutional crisis. At its center stood two former military comrades locked in a struggle that tested the boundaries of our fledgling democracy. a One man we recognize- Andrew Jackson-war hero, populist, and exemplar of the expanding South-whose first major initiative as president instigated the massive expulsion of Native Americans known as the Trail of Tears. The other is a half-forgotten figure- John Ross-a mixed-race Cherokee politician and diplomat-who used the United States' own legal system and democratic ideals to oppose Jackson.aRepresenting one of the Five Civilized Tribes who had adopted the ways of white settlers, Ross championed the tribes' cause all the way to the Supreme Court, gaining allies like Senator Henry Clay, Chief Justice John Marshall, and even Davy Crockett. Ross and his allies made their case in the media, committedacivil disobedience, and benefited from the first mass political action by American women. Their struggle contained ominous overtures of later events like the Civil War and defined the political culture for much that followed.a a Jacksonlandais the work of renowned journalist Steve Inskeep, cohost of NPR's Morning Edition, who offers a heart-stopping narrative masterpiece, a tragedy of American history that feels ripped from the headlines in its immediacy, drama, and relevance to our lives.Jacksonlandais the story of America at a moment of transition, when the fate of states and nations was decided by the actions of two heroic yet tragically opposed men.