Striking a Match

Striking a Match is set in an East Texas lumber town whose prosperity depends on forests, sawmills and dangerous industrial labour. The Vandermark family’s business and community ties bring opportunity, but fire, racial violence and economic rivalry threaten the stability they have built.

The trilogy follows Deborah Vandermark’s medical ambitions and developing relationship with Christopher Clayton. Christian faith shapes their commitment to service and reconciliation while forcing the wider community to confront prejudice rather than treating it as an unavoidable feature of frontier life.