Molly's Place — Kate McKenna

Molly's Place is the first book in the Prairie Hamlet Series. This is the story of a the tenants in a rooming house owned by Molly Hartnett. They begin as strangers lodging under a common roof and through the challenges and obstacles that affect their members; they evolve into an extended family. The story takes place in the fictitious neighborhood of Canalport, a small township adjacent to Chicago, within the Northwest Territories, from the fall of 1860 through New Year's Eve, 1865. Although the book is a historical romance novel, the characters drive the story, not the historical period in which they live. The book is regional in its presentation, it's similar to the rationality of Sarah, Plain and Tall, Anne of Green Gables, Brighton Beach Memoirs, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Ice Palace (Alaska), Giant (Texas).