Hannah Wagner’s life with her husband, John, had been full and rich with their three children and his successful medical practice in Brooklyn, New York, after John had returned from the hard years as a surgeon during the Civil War. But when the children became ill and died from diphtheria and God did not hear her prayers to save them and John’s medical skills could not do so, something in Hannah died also and she could not overcome the grief she felt nor her disappointment in God.

Then in 1873 John suddenly came home from seeing patients full of excitement he hoped could revive her heart and give them a fresh start.

John had met someone named Henry Abernathy during the war and while he was in New York he had looked up John to invite him to join him in Michigan where he had started a thriving lumber business in the wide expanses of white pine forests there. No doctors lived in the sawmill town and Henry knew they needed one and he wanted John to come there to be the town physician. This idea had given John the hope this could give him and Hannah a fresh perspective and start and he knew Henry could be very persuasive. He arrived home to share the news with Hannah and tell her Henry and his new young wife, Kate, would be arriving soon to share the vision with her as well.

Despite the weight of grief, Hannah could not imagine moving west of Chicago to the small Michigan town leaving behind the house where they had lived with their children and near their graves she visited often. Her initial impression of Henry Abernathy was that he was powerful and brash. His very young wife, Kate, was beautiful, voluptuous and looked young enough to be his daughter. He had clearly charmed her and she wanted Hannah to move to Michigan as well so she could have a friend despite Hannah’s perspective that it would be unlikely since their values and personalities were starkly different.

This is how the newest novel of Lynn Austin, The Lumber Baron’s Wife, opens.  Lynn Austin’s skill as a writer of historical fiction invites the reader into this story as Henry Abernathy succeeds in persuading John and Hannah to move to Michigan despite Hannah’s resistance.

The journey is difficult, the last stretch across Lake Michigan terrifying and the house Henry promised to build for them is not ready when they arrive. This forces them to live with Henry and Kate in their mansion for weeks waiting for their own home to be built. The luxury, servants, and lifestyle of the Abernathy’s make Hannah even more uncomfortable about the move.

Henry’s vision keeps growing and he is soon one of the millionaire lumber barons in the area while his young wife is bored and unprepared to fill the role of a society woman and hostess Her husband hopes Hannah will somehow tutor her in those skills. His pressure succeeds after Hannah and John move into their own lovely home and Kate begins visiting to get tips on how to handle her new role. She finds what Hannah outlines boring and misses her life of singing and dancing in New York. As they continue to meet, little by little Kate begins to confide in Hannah more about herself, her past life before Henry wooed her. Hannah finds the stories shocking beyond Kate’s drinking habits that she has observed on more than one occasion.

Lynn Austin weaves a tale that unfolds and keeps the reader guessing what will happen next. She also introduces you to Ashley and David Gilbert living in Philadelphia in the present day. This young couple have finished graduate degrees and David has accepted a “dream job” in Michigan as a conservationist. Ashley had been working part-time at a museum in the hope of moving up into directorship there when the move interrupts her own “dream job.”

They move to the town where Henry and Kate Abernathy had reigned in the late 1800’s. Hannah and John had settled there as well in a lovely home Henry built for them. Now Ashley needs to help find a home and look for a job in a town that doesn’t even have a museum. In her search for housing she learns bits and pieces of the story of the millionaire lumber barons who had lived there and the doctor and his wife who had cared for the lumbermen and families of town. She also learns about the mystery of the disappearance of Kate Abernathy and the mansion she lived in with Henry that now sits empty.

The Lumber Baron’s Wife reveals the hearts and longings of each character and the rocky lives they live. Lynn Austin’s skill shows how the lives of all three couples begin to intersect when Ashley starts to research the history of the town, Kate’s sudden disappearance, and the home of the John and Hannah.

To find out the plot and how each character develops, you won’t want to miss picking up this great read that will keep you in suspense until the last few chapters. I couldn’t put it down.