Frank Carlson Library

Think back to when you were little, visiting relatives--the ones who lived in a small town, in a house with a big front porch. After supper you sat on the porch, at the edge of the conversation's circle, listening to story after story. The sun was setting. The western sky turned pink. The crickets started up. Somewhere down the block, a screen door banged. You've been there haven't you--and long to go back? Let master storyteller Philip Gulley take...

"Times are hard in 1894. Desperate for work, former banker Jacob Hirsch rides the rails west from Chicago with his four-year-old daughter, Cassie. When a life-threatening illness strands the pair in Homestead, Iowa, the local Amana villagers welcome the father and daughter into their peaceful society. Liesel, a young Amana woman, nurses Cassie back to health, and the Homestead elders offer Jacob work. But Jacob's growing interest in Liesel complicates...