NanoWrimo Young Writer's Program Fiction Excerpt Contest Official Finalist 2020 When the sun set over the bustling city of Chicago on one October evening in 1871, no one could have predicted that it would rise three days later on little more than a field of rubble. In the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire, newly orphaned Caroline is determined to find a way to repair her childhood city, her beloved library, and her fractured heart. Could the brave yet mysterious young lady she meets along the way be the key to all three? Updates Tuesdays This story is still in drafting stage and will be re-written and re-uploaded after completion. Constructive criticism welcome :)

An heiress to one of Britain's most impressive fortunes, Cordelia Gardiner has always done what her strict father expects her to, manage the estate, host dinners, mind her manners. After years of adhering to his demanding expectations, however, Cordelia begins exploring the world outside of her own gilded cage. What she never expected was to encounter a world of love and of loss, of charming Lords and deceiving Ladies. [COMPLETED] RANKS: #1in Edwardian (11/19/2020) (02/16/2021) #3 in 19th Century (06/12/2021) #1 in Downton Abbey (10/30/2020) #53 in History (01/30/2022) #4 in Fiction (01/27/22)

{WATTYS 2020 WINNER} {FEATURED BOOK} Paris, 1663. 500 girls selected by King Louis XIV embark on a journey across the seas from their homeland. Each is given a dowry, and the expectation that they are to marry a French settler, in order to increase the population of New France. They are the historic Daughters of the King, or "les filles du roi." Eighteen-year-old Celeste Dubois is a free-spirited, educated and headstrong girl. She comes from a wealthy Parisian family that has squandered their money and is subsequently forced to journey to New France. However, Celeste doesn't plan on marrying a complete stranger. She hopes to use the dowry and the free voyage as a way to escape the poverty and social ranks of Paris. Matters are complicated when against her will, she falls in love. Romantic, kind and stunningly beautiful Lorraine Leblanc is a girl from a large family with children to spare. Unlike Celeste, she happily dreams of the day she will meet her future husband in New France. When she marries a mysterious widower with two young children of his own and still reeling after his broken heart, she realizes that married life isn't all she had hoped it would be, and begins to question her new husband's complicated past. - Wattpad Picks Blast to the Future Past list 2018 - The 50 Best Wattpad Stories of 2018/19 by Design Wizard - 2018 Youngblood Awards Winner (Romance) - 2018 True North Awards 2nd place for Historical Fiction and 2nd place Truly Canadian special category award - Featured by Wattpad Historical Fiction profile under Kings, Courtships and Empires, Young Adult Fiction profile under Love, Actually and Romance profile under Time will Tell *Please be aware that since this book covers the colonial period, it does contain sensitive themes of racism and violence that readers will find disturbing. There are resources at the back of the book that prompt further learning in the Historical Notes section.*