Ann H. Gabhart

Ann H. Gabhart has been called a storyteller. With 38 published books and more stories on the way, the title fits. Ann wraps her stories around historical times and settings in her home state of Kentucky. She’s written about the Shakers in The Refuge, The Outsider and more, gone to the Appalachian Mountains for These Healing Hills, An Appalachian Summer, and Along a Storied Trail, mined her family history for Angel Sister and Scent of Lilacs, and others. Ann’s rural background played a part in the setting in When the Meadow Blooms. In her new story, In the Shadow of the River, she heads out on the Ohio River with her showboat characters. Ann keeps her keyboard warm out on her farm where she and her dogs, and sometimes her grandkids, enjoy discovering the wonders of nature. To find out more about Ann and her books, go to www.annhgabhart.com.

In the Shadow of the River

In 1881, Jacci Reed is only five years old when a man attempts to kidnap her from the steamboat her mother, Irena, works on. Badly wounded during the confrontation, Irena takes Jacci aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, a showboat tied up beside them. There, Jacci's actor grandfather tends to her mother and Jacci gets a first taste of the life she will come to lead.

Fifteen years later, Jacci is an actress aboard the Kingston Floating Palace, and largely contented with her adopted family of actors, singers, and dancers. Especially Gabe, who has always supported her, and the gruff grandfather she has come to know and love. Jacci's mother has been gone for years, but the memory of the altercation that ultimately took her life--and the cryptic things Jacci has overheard about her past--is always there, lurking in the back of her mind.

When someone on the showboat tries to kill Jacci, it's clear her questions demand answers. But secrets have a way of staying in the shadows, and the answers she craves will not come easily. Gabe only hopes they come in time for him and Jacci to have a future together.