Out Of The Shadows — Carolyn Ann Wharton

Christa Howard - a single mother with a career as a pro-life lobbyist - discovers she must confront her past before she can move into the future. After she meets Paul Manley, who shares her faith and cares for her daughter, she realizes that she cannot commit herself to him until she tells Katy's father that he has a daughter. She arranges an interview with him as a second-generation manager/owner of the family agribusiness in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Her contact with David Sutton erupts into complications and fireworks for which she is totally unprepared. Relieved that she has told him her secret and confident that he understands she wants nothing from him, she is startled by his denials that her claim could be true. She rushes out of his office without leaving any way for him to contact her. David finds his daughter with the help of a private detective. He cannot deny her parentage and crashes into Christa's life with a vengeance. The struggle of wills brings David to his knees where he finds a life-changing faith. Christa also seeks solace on her knees as she discovers some not too pleasant truths about her own Christian walk. The settings of the novel both in Washington D.C. and the shelter of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia contribute to the appeal for the reader.