Hannah of Fort Bridger Series

When Hannah Cooper and her children pray for the salvation of their Jewish friend, Jacob Kates, they have no idea what it might take to see that prayer answered. Mary Beth Cooper has said that, if need be, she’ll give her life to see him become a Christian. But will she have to prove it? Thousands of devoted Lacy readers will find out in this eighth installment of the Hannah of Fort Bridger series, which continues the saga of a widowed frontier woman’s faith-filled journey through the hardships and joys of life.

In this seventh installment in the Hannah of Fort Bridger series, twin tragedies set the stage for God’s glorious provision. A vicious mountain lion attack leaves beautiful, young rancher Carrie Wright a widow. An outlaw on his way to prison escapes the law long enough to shoot Doug McClain’s wife, making him the lonely father of a young daughter. Then heroine Hannah Cooper, newly widowed herself, comforts Carrie with the knowledge that while God’s servants will tread through the valley of weeping, they will also keep moving toward another mountaintop. When employment opportunities bring Doug and Carrie together, unexpected sparks fly and finally they can envision a future “beyond the valley.”

In southern Wyoming, an influenza epidemic sweeps in on the tails of a raging blizzard. An already tense situation between whites and the Cheyenne, Shoshoni, and Blackfoot Indian tribes is aggravated when the Indians begin attacking settlers and soldiers alike. Only the nearby Crow remain friendly, at one point even rescuing an army patrol under attack. When influenza and starvation threaten the Crow, Hannah and a young doctor come to their aid. The hungry settlers complain at first, but eventually come to admire and respect the example set by Hannah’s Touch of Compassion.

Picking up where the fourth book in the Fort Bridger series leaves off, Jack Bower and Julianna LeCroix are making their way back to Fort Bridger to announce their engagement when they run across Matt and Emily McDermott and their daughter, Holly, stranded along the road. Jack and Julianna help the family travel safely to Fort Bridger, only for tragedy to strike when Holly dies of pneumonia.

Emilly refuses to believe that Holly is dead. She heads out one day to find Holly and mistakes Patty Ruth, another child in the town, for her dead daughter. Matt’s heart is torn between his wife and the guilt of keeping Patty Ruth, but through God’s love, the broken Fort Bridger families will slowly start to heal.

New Orleans, 1870. With her infant daughter Larissa, Julianna LeCroix heads west to begin a new life in Idaho after unscrupulous lawyers steal her inheritance following her husband’s death. Along the way she encounters kind strangers who share the gospel with her, and a desperate drifter named Jack Bower who takes her hostage to conceal his identity from hired killers hot on his trail. As he travels with Julianna, Jack finds himself falling in love with the spirited and beautiful young widow. He hires on with a local rancher, becomes a Christian, and eventually asks Julianna to marry him-just before the stagecoach that would separate them forever heads for the horizon!

Picking up where the second book in the Fort Bridger series leaves off, No Place for Fear finds Hannah Solomon befriending Betsy Fordham, a woman whose husband was captured and killed by Cheyenne Indians. Through friendship, Hannah talks with Betsy of the help God can providing in overcoming her bitterness and fear. Though that message is at first rejected, the disappearance of Betsy’s two young sons-and their eventual rescue by Shoshone Indians-brings her to the place where she’s ready to hear the message that God loves her, and that His perfect love casts out fear.

Picking up where the first book in the Fort Bridger series leaves off, Consider the Lilies finds Hannah’s wagon train twenty days from Fort Bridger as she deals with her children’s and her own grief over her husband’s death. In Fort Bridger, the Solomons make many friends. Yet there is one man, embittered by the Civil War, who hates Hannah because her husband fought on the Union side of the war, and because she is a strong woman who still plans to run the general store. In a fit of temper, this man, Alex Patterson, sets a fire that destroys Hannah’s store, and seemingly her future. But just when Hannah is about to give up, she is reminded to cling to God’s promises that he will provide. Soon she sees God’s hand upon her life. As a result, Hannah is able to recover…and even lead Alex Patterson to Christ through her example of forgiveness.

In the years following the Civil War, Hannah and Solomon Cooper decide to seek out a new life on the frontier. In the dangerous journey that follows, however, tragedy strikes. By all reasonable expectations they should return home. Yet to the surprise of everyone in the wagon train — and despite great opposition — Hannah presses onward, displaying grit, courage, and a faith deep enough to sustain her family through life’s greatest trials.