The Heartland — Lisa Mason

Lily is not quite a typical woman in Toledo, Ohio, 1896. She may be repressed and dependent on her husband, but she supports the vote for women and has a mind of her own. When Johnny Pentland is found dead at a notorious brothel, Lily discovers her husband is not the man she thought he was.



Pursued by Pentland's enemies, Lily embarks on a journey that will take her across the country to San Francisco and across the ocean to Imperial China as she unravels a web of murder and corruption reaching from the opium dens of Chinatown to the mansions of Nob Hill.



Her journey becomes one of the heart when she crosses paths with Dr. Jackson Tremaine, a debonair, worldly-wise physician. Lily and Jackson begin a conflicted, passionate relationship as they encounter the mysterious Celestial Girl and her dangerous entourage.



In Book 1, The Heartland, Lily flees Toledo on the Overland train. She must share a seat with Jackson Tremaine and befriends the Celestial Girl, the daughter of a Chinese dignitary. But appearances are not what they seem.



From the author of The Garden of Abracadabra, Volume 1 of the Abracadabra Series, Summer of Love, A Time Travel (a Philip K. Dick Award finalist and San Francisco Chronicle Recommended Book), The Gilded Age, A Time Travel (a New York Times Notable Book and New York Public Library Recommended Book), and Strange Ladies: 7 Stories.



Of Lisa Mason's The Gilded Age, the New York Times Book Review said, “A winning mixture of intelligence and passion.”