A Light at Winter's End

London follows 2010's Summer of Two Wishes with an emotional contemporary western about people struggling to do the right things. Wyatt Clark's wife left him when her first husband, erroneously reported killed in Afghanistan, returned. Two years later, Wyatt wallows in solitary bitterness on his Texas ranch. Holly Fisher is about to launch her long-dreamed-of career as an Austin, Tex., songwriter when her estranged drug-addicted sister, Hannah, shows up on Holly's doorstep, drops off baby Mason, and heads to rehab. Retreating to the old family homestead, Holly finds herself falling both for the taciturn cowboy next door and for the little boy in her care. London's effective wordcraft and plotting keep readers engaged as she draws drama from her characters' inner strife, breathing life into the journey from quiet desperation and loneliness to happiness and self-discovery. (Mar.)