Christmas Challenge

After the death of her guardian, Valerie Shannon O'Shea feels as adrift as a boat torn free of its moorings on Lake Michigan. She prays about her future and finds a challenge in the newspaper. IS THE PIONEER SPIRIT STILL ALIVE AND WELL? A skeptical financier doubts women in the late 1880s can live the hard life of their ancestors. He is offering train fare to Montana and a substantial cash prize to a young woman courageous enough to live in an abandoned one-room schoolhouse for a full year without help from anyone. The schoolhouse is near Whitewind, where Valerie and her father lived ten years earlier. Danny O'Shea was then convicted of a crime he swore he did not commit. There is little to connect Valerie Shannon, as she signs her paintings, with the gawky fourteen-year-old known as Shannon O'Shea. What if she can meet the newspaper challenge, paint the Montana landscape, and carry out her long held vow to clear her father's name? The long train trip across country brings back bittersweet memories. Many are of eighteen-year-old Locke Stuart, son of the judge who sent Valerie's father to prison. Locke had stolen Valerie's heart but never answered her letters. She wonders if he ever thinks of the girl he fiercely championed in spite of his father's opposition. Valerie and Locke must ride tangled trails and learn to heed the everlasting whisper, Trust Me, before they can find happiness.


Genre: Inspirational