Night Ride Home

A man and a woman wage the fight of
their lives for a second chance at love

Nora Mahler leads a perfect life. With her two teenage children, Simon and Clea, and her husband, she thrives on running the family horse ranch on the banks of the Missouri until Simon is killed in a riding accident. Nora's husband Neal sends the horses away, and when Nora refuses his orders to sell the farm, he moves to Chicago, taking Clea with him. Soon after, Ozzie Kline, a horse wrangler who has longed for Nora since they were teenage lovers, helps Nora and her mother rebuild their farm. Alongside Ozzie, Nora finds a happiness she never knew with her husband and wonders, "What if we had the opportunity to love each other again?"--until Neal returns to claim what he considers his.

Barbara Esstman lives in Oakton, Virginia. Hallmark Hall of Fame has made into television movies both this book (under the title Secrets) and her second book, Night Ride Home. Esstman has received the Redbook fiction award, nominations for the Pushcart Prize and the Library of Virginia Fiction Award, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.