Women of Ivy Manor Series by Lyn Cote

Award-winning author Lyn Cote delivers the first story in her moving Women of Ivy Manor series about four generations of women, set against the sprawling tapestry of the twentieth century. Chloe Lorraine Kimball is born at the estate of Ivy Manor in the wee hours of the twentieth century. She is the apple of her grandmother's eye, if not her mother and father's... moreAward-winning author Lyn Cote delivers the first story in her moving Women of Ivy Manor series about four generations of women, set against the sprawling tapestry of the twentieth century. Chloe Lorraine Kimball is born at the estate of Ivy Manor in the wee hours of the twentieth century. She is the apple of her grandmother's eye, if not her mother and father's. For despite a home filled with everything a young girl could desire, she lacks the one thing she wants above all else--unconditional love from her parents. Thinking she can win that love through her actions, she creates a successful life for herself in Washington, DC, as the belle of her father's political career. Bright and beautiful, she revels in the attention she receives from the capitol's major players. But in the end, as her world comes crashing down amid the opening months of the Depression, Chloe must realize that whether or not she's capable of giving and receiving love is something entirely up to her. And perhaps she can finally find happiness on her own terms. less

Elizabeth "Bette" Leigh Black comes of age in the years before WWII. Although money is scarce in the aftermath of the Depression, her home with her mother, Chloe, and her stepfather is happy. But as the war taints their sheltered world, Bette begins to realize life is sometimes cruel--and not everyone has the happiness she does. She finishes school and briefly becomes involved in anti-Nazi espionage until she marries. Married life, however, is not the happy dream she imagined... moreElizabeth "Bette" Leigh Black comes of age in the years before WWII. Although money is scarce in the aftermath of the Depression, her home with her mother, Chloe, and her stepfather is happy. But as the war taints their sheltered world, Bette begins to realize life is sometimes cruel--and not everyone has the happiness she does. She finishes school and briefly becomes involved in anti-Nazi espionage until she marries. Married life, however, is not the happy dream she imagined. Sent overseas, her husband, Curt, falls in love with a young Frenchwoman and leaves Bette alone and pregnant. She is forced to rely on her own strength--and her God's--and returns to espionage. When Curt finally returns to beg for a reconciliation, Bette must decide whether or not she can trust him again, and if marriage to him is truly what is right for her and her daughter. less

The third in a saga of four generations of women set against the sprawling tapestry of the 20th century focuses on a young journalist in the 1960s, who immerses herself in the civil rights movement and antiwar protests and learns that with God's help she can grow into the woman He wants.