Tonya Jewel Blessing

The Whispering of the Willows Tonya Jewel Blessing

Best Selling New Adult Historical Romance. Now Available in Hard Cover.

Faith-based, this first book in the Big Creek Appalachian series begins in dark places where children are traded as child brides to men who are willing to work the family farm. Innocent Emerald Ashby is assaulted and becomes pregnant. She is accused and dishonored, but when members of the community come round, surprises happen.

The Whispering of the Willows is a work of historical fiction. Set in the late 1920s, in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, eighth grade Emerald is about to learn some hard lessons when a deeply disturbed man is thrust into her life by her abusive father and enabling mother.



"Superb storytelling interspersed with practical faith portrays the difficulty and beauty of Appalachian life."



The blossoming young woman is accompanied by her friends and her foes on a journey towards hope and healing. Love weaves through gut-wrenching circumstances and dismal poverty. There, Emerald Ashby grows strong despite grievous wrongs committed against her.