The chance for a new life, the hope for a new love... Were they worth the risk of leaving home?
Would she have to defy everything -- even love?
From her simple farm life in Vermont, Joanna bravely joins the growing number of girls working in the textile mills in 1896. With her she carries the painful memory of Jed, a young man who has left her, loving the sea more then he loves her. In the Lowell, Massachusetts, mill, Joanna is horrified to find the work both grueling and dangerous. Even a romance with the mill owner's roguish nephew, Theo, can't keep the daily work from becoming terrifying drudgery. To strike with the other mill women seems Joanna's only way out of a job that threatens her very existence. But defying the miller owner's will certainly mean losing her job and Theo. And if Jed ever returns from the sea, would he recognize -- could he love -- the new Joanna?
Jane Claypool Miner has written over 80 books for young adults. Some of them were written using the pen-name, Veronica Ladd. She enjoyed working as a junior and senior high school teacher before she became an author. In 1981 she was named Writer of the Year by the Society of Children's Book Writers. Her best-selling book, Dreams Can Come True, sold over a million copies and was translated into seven languages.
She has been a Religious Science minister for the last 25 years and now writes on self-help and spiritual topics as Jane Claypool. Dr. Jane was awarded both an honorary doctorate and the Raymond Charles Barker Writing Award by Religious Science International. Her best known spiritual books are Wise Women don't worry, Wise Women don't sing the blues and Science of Mind Skills.
Currently she writes a popular blog, www.janeclaypool.com, and is working on a series of short books on spiritual topics.

