The Worthams and Hammonds are close friends and neighbors, sharing almost everything on their Illinois farms during the Depression era. When a fire breaks out and threatens to destroy the Hammond farm, both families are affected by it. Was it an accident or set on purpose? Some of the kids know, but no one is talking. The fire sets events into motion that affects each member of both families differently.This story takes place about 7 years after the last book of The Wortham Family series, (Julia's Hope, Emma's Gift, Katie's Dream) and is the first book of the Country Road Chronicle series. If you haven't read The Wortham Family series first, I would recommend that before starting this series, because it's very helpful to know the back story of the characters, and helps you to understand their thoughts and actions better.My only quibble about this story was that one of the characters who had injuries from the fire seemed to recover a little too quickly to be believable, but overall, it was an "easy going" read and great "feel good" type of story.
