Marta's Promise

"The chill April wind whipped a strand of fine brown hair across Marta Ebel's cheek, as if punishing her for betraying her homeland. . . . She understood Russia's offer of a respectable future for unmarried women. The German states offered only a slow death of servitude or a life of shame for women without the protection of family." As Marta Ebel leaves her German homeland seeking a better future in Russia, her life becomes inexplicably entwined with two unlikely companions-an orphan named Hans and a handsome stranger named Carl. Completely alone and faced with imprisonment as an illegal immigrant, Marta has no one she can trust and is forced to put her safety in the hands of Carl-a man of questionable character and unexplained actions. Amid the danger, Marta holds on to the hope of owning her own land in Russia, but an unexpected marriage and countless hardships threaten to complicate her dream. Will she ever gain her freedom and the love she so deeply deserves? "Brimming with the spirit of new hope amid dramatic uncertainties and physical hardships, the story of German relocation in the 1700s comes to life in these remarkable pages. It's not a story of the past as much as a story of human endeavor, challenges, dangers, and faith." -Gerald Perschbacher Editor, historian, and author Jeanne Gowen Dennis is a freelance writer with eleven books in print, including Running Barefoot on Holy Ground: Childlike Intimacy with God, also from Kregel. She is the editor of Barefoot Path and Barefoot for Kids online magazines and speaks to women, writers, parents, and homeschoolers. Sheila Seifertis a prolific freelance writer of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and scripts, and teaches creative writing, composition, and literature classes at local colleges and universities. She has authored or coauthored fifteen books (seven fiction, six nonfiction, two books of skits) and two e-books. Her first script for an animated TV show recently aired on PBS.Dennis, Jeanne Gowen is the author of 'Marta's Promise', published 2006 under ISBN 9780825424892 and ISBN 0825424895.