A Lasting Impression

Alexander (Within My Heart) has crafted a cleverly designed story line featuring an artist, Claire Laurent, who is forced to paint forgeries. Claire’s art gallery owner father forces her to comply with his illegal activities and then dies, leaving her to fend for herself. Claire finds shelter with a compassionate minister and his wife before landing a position with Mrs. Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America in the 1860s. Claire also meets Sutton Monroe, a young lawyer who is obsessed with righting the wrongful death of his father, but who is growing increasingly interested in Claire—and her past. Through painful pangs of conscience and events out of Claire’s control, she has to decide if she is willing to hide her past or admit her mistakes to those who’ve shown nothing but goodwill toward her. Alexander does a lovely job of representing the historical details of this time in American history without letting the facts distract from a tenderly told love story. (Nov.)