What do you think?
Rate this book
Resolute Heart
In the days immediately following the Civil War, Yankee soldiers called bummers straggled home, emotionally ravaged, exhausted, and hungry. Forced to steal what they needed along the way from weary families themselves devastated by war, they often left a wake of cruelty and violence.
One such bummer impulsively grabs an 18-year-old Tennessee girl who is home alone with her young brother while their parents are gone to replenish needed supplies after the years of deprivation and hardship. The bummer stubbornly holds her for three days as they make their way north. But Meg is not a typical kidnapping victim. Her spunk and fortitude forge an unexpected bond between the two by the time they near his home.
The soldier, coping with PTSD, is not a typical criminal, either. He gains solace from this resolute and hardy young woman who reminds him of home. Although he treats her with care, she remains a captive. When he comes to his senses and releases her, neither realizes the time spent together will forever bind them.
Filled with regret, he covertly makes sure she gets home safely, even surreptitiously visiting her a few weeks later. During that encounter, they confirm and consummate the romance that had begun to blossom during their journey north.
When he learns that Meg’s wedding to her childhood sweetheart is imminent, he vanishes without explaining that he is unselfishly withdrawing from further interference in her life. He does not realize that he is leaving behind not only a resourceful and tenacious woman but a child he knows nothing of.
Meg’s pluck and spirit see her through several years with a husband who uses what happened to his wife as an excuse to seek solace in the bottle. She finally accepts that she can’t change him and establishes a life on her own, vowing that she will never give up searching for her soldier. Their son, at age 16, has the gumption to carry on that search and make his mother’s desire come true.
Wasche was first published at age 17 after winning a state writing contest in Minnesota. She continued to be a contributing writer to regional and national publications while pursuing careers in business and the health sciences. She served as president of the Alaska chapter of Romance Writers of America, editor of the Chugiak Eagle River Historical Society newsletter, founded a book club and has held membership in the Chugach Writers Group, the Alaska Writers Guild, the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association, 49 Alaska Writers, and the Independent Book Publisher’s Association. She is currently writing from lake country Minnesota.
One such bummer impulsively grabs an 18-year-old Tennessee girl who is home alone with her young brother while their parents are gone to replenish needed supplies after the years of deprivation and hardship. The bummer stubbornly holds her for three days as they make their way north. But Meg is not a typical kidnapping victim. Her spunk and fortitude forge an unexpected bond between the two by the time they near his home.
The soldier, coping with PTSD, is not a typical criminal, either. He gains solace from this resolute and hardy young woman who reminds him of home. Although he treats her with care, she remains a captive. When he comes to his senses and releases her, neither realizes the time spent together will forever bind them.
Filled with regret, he covertly makes sure she gets home safely, even surreptitiously visiting her a few weeks later. During that encounter, they confirm and consummate the romance that had begun to blossom during their journey north.
When he learns that Meg’s wedding to her childhood sweetheart is imminent, he vanishes without explaining that he is unselfishly withdrawing from further interference in her life. He does not realize that he is leaving behind not only a resourceful and tenacious woman but a child he knows nothing of.
Meg’s pluck and spirit see her through several years with a husband who uses what happened to his wife as an excuse to seek solace in the bottle. She finally accepts that she can’t change him and establishes a life on her own, vowing that she will never give up searching for her soldier. Their son, at age 16, has the gumption to carry on that search and make his mother’s desire come true.
Wasche was first published at age 17 after winning a state writing contest in Minnesota. She continued to be a contributing writer to regional and national publications while pursuing careers in business and the health sciences. She served as president of the Alaska chapter of Romance Writers of America, editor of the Chugiak Eagle River Historical Society newsletter, founded a book club and has held membership in the Chugach Writers Group, the Alaska Writers Guild, the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association, 49 Alaska Writers, and the Independent Book Publisher’s Association. She is currently writing from lake country Minnesota.
Audible Audio
Published September 2, 2022
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 22, 2022
Resolute Heart, by Mary Wasche, warrants a maximum rating of five out of five stars for its ability to weave suspense, romance, and history. This story follows the post-Civil War life of Meg, who’d been impulsively grabbed from her Tennessee farm by a Union soldier returning home from war. After three days of travelling north by horseback, he overcame his post-war trauma enough to release her unharmed. His explanation that he’d been desperate for a touch of home when he grabbed her earned Meg’s empathy and formed an unexpected bond between them.
Meg returned home to her childhood sweetheart and their imminent marriage plans. But thoughts of the soldier never left her. Meg’s new husband, suspecting his wife’s lasting feelings for the soldier, turned to drink to comfort himself. The soldier, Stu, couldn’t let go of the hold his time with Meg had on him. He returned surreptitiously and found her as she gathered herbs in the woods. Neither could resist an intimate encounter, after which he dashed away. The son she bore was his. Her husband became ever more suspicious, remote and alcoholic so Meg soon left the deteriorating marriage. She travelled north to Illinois to find her soldier, knowing only his first name and the area he’d been headed for. Her tenacity allowed her to locate his well-to-do rancher family and learn that Stu had vanished without explanation shortly after returning from a mysterious trip several years before.
Rebuffed by the family as a loose woman and gold digger, a resourceful and independent Meg landed a live-in job as a manager for an elderly innkeeper who became a surrogate grandpa to her son, Stephen, and a mentor to her. But when Stephen was sixteen, Meg became very ill and knew it was time to tell him of his father. As soon as she recovered, Stephen went to his grandparents, who recognized the uncanny resemblance to Stu and accepted him. He and his seventeen-year-old cousin then began a journey on horseback to search for Stu.
Told from the third-person omniscient point of view, the novel employs extensive use of vivid descriptions to advance the storyline in perfect synchrony with the plot development. As the story develops, the author draws the reader into the way of life, the surroundings, the mores, and the social climate of the 1860s. I enjoyed reading about the travelling experiences of the characters across the vast lands on horseback. Exploring the terrain made my reading experience quite adventurous as I tried to familiarize myself with the topography of each scene. The author craftily employed flashbacks that significantly affected the storyline, yet did this without detracting from the story’s flow.
I also applaud the author for her excellent character development. The strong female character was realistic and led an atypical and independent way of life. Meg, a determined and confident woman, had her share of flaws that made her personality realistic. There is nothing I liked least about this novel. Five stars, for sure!
Meg returned home to her childhood sweetheart and their imminent marriage plans. But thoughts of the soldier never left her. Meg’s new husband, suspecting his wife’s lasting feelings for the soldier, turned to drink to comfort himself. The soldier, Stu, couldn’t let go of the hold his time with Meg had on him. He returned surreptitiously and found her as she gathered herbs in the woods. Neither could resist an intimate encounter, after which he dashed away. The son she bore was his. Her husband became ever more suspicious, remote and alcoholic so Meg soon left the deteriorating marriage. She travelled north to Illinois to find her soldier, knowing only his first name and the area he’d been headed for. Her tenacity allowed her to locate his well-to-do rancher family and learn that Stu had vanished without explanation shortly after returning from a mysterious trip several years before.
Rebuffed by the family as a loose woman and gold digger, a resourceful and independent Meg landed a live-in job as a manager for an elderly innkeeper who became a surrogate grandpa to her son, Stephen, and a mentor to her. But when Stephen was sixteen, Meg became very ill and knew it was time to tell him of his father. As soon as she recovered, Stephen went to his grandparents, who recognized the uncanny resemblance to Stu and accepted him. He and his seventeen-year-old cousin then began a journey on horseback to search for Stu.
Told from the third-person omniscient point of view, the novel employs extensive use of vivid descriptions to advance the storyline in perfect synchrony with the plot development. As the story develops, the author draws the reader into the way of life, the surroundings, the mores, and the social climate of the 1860s. I enjoyed reading about the travelling experiences of the characters across the vast lands on horseback. Exploring the terrain made my reading experience quite adventurous as I tried to familiarize myself with the topography of each scene. The author craftily employed flashbacks that significantly affected the storyline, yet did this without detracting from the story’s flow.
I also applaud the author for her excellent character development. The strong female character was realistic and led an atypical and independent way of life. Meg, a determined and confident woman, had her share of flaws that made her personality realistic. There is nothing I liked least about this novel. Five stars, for sure!
Displaying 1 of 1 review