From Booklist
Dr. Dru Talbot is eager to get home to the bride with whom he had only one night of wedded bliss before the Civil War took him away, but he soon discovers that after reports of his death, Sara took off with a Yankee. In fact, she actually returned to Magnolia Creek only one day before him with Lissybeth, her bastard baby. When the newspaper attacks Sara in a scathing editorial, it looks like Dru will never be able to get his medical practice off the ground unless he divorces her. Then a yellow fever epidemic strikes, and as the backwoods herbal healer from the wrong side of the creek and the handsome scion of the town's founder work together to save lives, they realize that they still have feelings for each other. Readers will weep with sorrow and joy over Landis' smart and romantic tale, which parallels Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (1997) in its deliberate pacing and dramatization of the toll exacted on a marriage by war and class differences. Diana Tixier Herald
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Review
“JILL MARIE LANDIS IS THE AUTHOR YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR.”
–KRISTIN HANNAH

“READERS WILL WEEP WITH SORROW AND JOY OVER LANDIS’S SMART AND ROMANTIC TALE.”
–Booklist

“Jill Marie Landis can really touch the heart.”
–JAYNE ANN KRENTZ

FROM THE PUBLISHER

One of the most beloved authors in women's fiction today, Jill Marie Landis touches the heart as she illuminates every exhilarating page with natural warmth and tenderness. Now, in her stirring new novel, Landis takes readers to a place where pride can be as unforgiving as the past and finding the courage to love again will be nothing short of a miracle.
On the eve of the Civil War, Sara Collier marries the dashing Dru Talbot, just before he rides off to join the Confederate army. But fate cuts short their chance for happiness when Dru dies tragically on the battlefield. As a widow, Sara rises above her grief, refusing to mourn her life away. But one wrong choice, made with an open heart, takes her away from her hometown—and challenges Sara in ways she never imagined. Though she returns to Magnolia Creek an outcast, the sorrow in her life makes her stronger.
A year after the war has ended, battle-scarred surgeon Dru Talbot surprises everyone when he returns home, clinging to the dream of starting over with his bride. Yet nothing could prepare Dru for the truth that awaits him in Magnolia Creek. Heartbroken, Dru tries to forgive the shadows of the past. Unable to surrender the only man she has ever loved, Sara dreams of rekindling the passion they once shared, turning betrayal into reconciliation.
Written with rare beauty and emotion, Magnolia Creek is a heartfelt lesson in second chances—and a moving celebration of life's most precious gifts.