Softly and Tenderly

Maybe in the wide-open country she can learn to breathe again.

Happily married and owner of two successful boutiques, Jade longs to begin a family with her husband, Max. But when she discovers that Max has an illegitimate son—who he wants her to help raise—Jade’s life is turned upside down.

She flees to her childhood home, a rambling Iowa farmhouse, with enough room to breathe. There—while her mother’s health grows fragile, and the tug of her first love grows stronger—Jade begins to question everything she thought she knew about family, love, and motherhood. In the wide-open landscape, Jade begins to see a future that doesn’t rest on the power of her past, but in the goodness of God’s tender mercies.

"Exquisitely written, an achingly beautiful story about lost and found relationships that made me ponder my own. This story is not to be missed."

—Susan May Warren, RITA award-winning, best-selling author of Nightingale

"Hang on for an emotional ride as a woman who 'married into a Southern soap opera' learns to forgive and trust again."

—Booklist