From “one of the best observers of stories of the heart” (Salem Statesman Journal), THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL is an exquisite and richly imagined novel of the secrets that keep us from finding our way, the ties binding us to family and home and the indelible imprint love can make on the human heart.

From “one of the best observers of stories of the heart” (Salem Statesman Journal), THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL is an exquisite and richly imagined novel of the secrets that keep us from finding our way, the ties binding us to family and home and the indelible imprint love can make on the human heart.

THE BEEKEEPER’S BALL is the second story in the Bella Vista Chronicles. It follows THE APPLE ORCHARD (Harlequin MIRA, 5/2013).

Isabel Johansen, a celebrated chef who grew up in the sleepy Sonoma town of Archangel, is transforming her childhood home into a destination cooking school --- a unique place for other dreamers to come and learn the culinary arts. Bella Vista’s rambling mission-style hacienda, with its working apple orchards, bountiful gardens and beehives, is the idyllic venue for Isabel’s project…and the perfect place for her to forget the past.

But Isabel’s carefully ordered plans begin to go awry when swaggering, war-torn journalist Cormac O’Neill arrives to dig up old history. He’s always been better at exposing the lives of others than showing his own closely guarded heart, but the pleasures of small-town life and the searing sensuality of Isabel’s kitchen coax him into revealing a few truths of his own.

The dreamy sweetness of summer is the perfect time of year for a grand family wedding and the enchanting Beekeeper’s Ball, bringing emotions to a head in a story where the past and present collide to create an unexpected new future.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S BASTARD by Sally Cabot is an absorbing and compelling work of literary historical fiction that brings to life a little-known chapter of the American Revolution --- the story of Benjamin Franklin and his bastard son, and the women who loved them both.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S BASTARD by Sally Cabot is an absorbing and compelling work of literary historical fiction that brings to life a little-known chapter of the American Revolution --- the story of Benjamin Franklin and his bastard son, and the women who loved them both.

An absorbing and compelling work of literary historical fiction, set in colonial Philadelphia, that brings to life a little-known chapter of the American Revolution --- the story of Benjamin Franklin, his bastard son and the women who loved them.

Sixteen-year-old Anne is an uneducated serving girl at the Penny Pot tavern when she first meets the commanding Benjamin Franklin, and soon bears him a son she names William. But growing up a bastard amid the squalor of the Philadelphia slums isn't the life Anne wants for her boy. She makes a heartbreaking decision to give up William forever, allowing Benjamin and his common-law wife, Deborah, to raise him as their own.

Anne secretly watches out for her beloved child --- as Deborah struggles to accept him --- and takes great pride as William rises to become Royal Governor of New Jersey. But when the colonies begin to fight for independence from the British Crown, William is torn between allegiance to his beloved monarchy and his own father.

A poignant tale of passion, family, love, and war, Benjamin Franklin's Bastard skillfully draws together a remarkable cast of real characters to vividly re-create one of the most thrilling periods of history --- the birth of the American nation.