Heart of Glass by Diane Noble

Filled with warmth and tender insights, Heart of Glass follows the unforgettable Fairwyn March from young adulthood through midlife during the final decades of the nineteenth century.

A free-spirited beauty whose life brims with mountain lore and dulcimer music, Fairwyn disastrously loses her heart to the ambitions of a man who wants only to change her. Determined to be everything her husband wants, she gives up the core of herself. Then one day, she discovers a secret that shatters her world.

Sending herself into self-imposed exile, Fairwyn allows her family to believe her dead. Her journey takes her across the continent--and into the landscape of her heart. In the most unlikely of places--California's decaying Mission San Juan Capistrano--she meets another exile in need of healing. Bound together in tender friendship, they also discover hope in God's promise of love without condition. A spellbinding journey into the human heart.

From the Trade Paperback edition.