From a Distance

by Tamera Alexander Book 1 in the Timber Ridge Reflections series.

First published 2008

Amazon

4.6(2,090)

Elizabeth Westbrook travels to Timber Ridge hoping to establish herself as a newspaper photographer and to find relief for a serious illness in Colorado’s dry mountain air. Former Confederate sharpshooter Daniel Ranslett wants solitude, but an image Elizabeth takes may contain evidence connected to a murder. Protecting her draws him back into relationships and memories he has tried to avoid.

The novel links early field photography to the risks faced by a woman pursuing public work in the American West. A criminal investigation provides the danger, while the deeper movement is from concealment toward trust: Elizabeth and Daniel must accept physical limitation, wartime guilt and Christian grace before either can imagine a shared future.