You did it! We figured this one out! It is a truth universally acknowledged (by me for certain) that the Bitchery pretty much knows everything, and really, it's true. Scroll down to see the solution for this HaBO - and many thanks!
This HaBO comes from Amy, who is looking for a book from over two decades ago:
I have a vague recollection of a book I read twenty-five years ago and would love some help figuring out what it is.
It’s set in the 1800s in the Pacific Northwest. The story may have started with a woman traveling to/from San Francisco via boat. Possibly the boat sank and she was saved by a young man. She ends up in a small lumber town with (married to?) an older guy and it turns out that his son is the person who saved her on the boat (or was she with the son first and then went with the father?).
The father and son have long had an antagonistic relationship. She definitely ends up sleeping with the son somewhere in the woods and has an “oh crap, what have I done” moment. What I really remember is that the son is a few years younger than her and this causes her some anxiety, and at the end there is a fire at the lumber mill and his (their?) safety is in jeopardy.
I wonder if this is enough information for anyone to recognize the story.
Can the Bitchery help her out?
I don’t know what book this is but it sounds like one of those books of the 70s and 80s that blended romance with historical fiction and/or family saga drama. There used to be a lot of books like those (The Thorn Birds would be a good example) and they are almost extinct nowadays. It is hard to picture a full-on romance novel where the heroine has slept with both a father and his son!
Might this be Redwood Empire by A. E. Maxwell? A. E. Maxwell is a joint pseudonym of Elizabeth Lowell/Ann Maxwell and her husband, Evan Maxwell.
I don’t think it’s ‘The Tiger’s Woman’ by Celeste De Blassis, which was the only 1880s logging/lumber romance I could think of. No father/son duo, as far as I can recall (it has been a while since I read last re-read it). Thanks, Kareni, for reminding me of ‘Redwood Empire’ (I can remember that I really disliked that book, even tho’ I was a fan of Ms Lowell’s category romances).
Yes! It’s definitely Redwood Empire – thank you!
Amy, I’m so pleased to have known the answer!
Barb in Maryland, I too was a huge fan of Ms. Lowell’s romances and Redwood Empire was not a favorite. My favorite book of hers was a standalone book entitled Tell Me No Lies. I also liked some of her science fiction romances written as Ann Maxwell.
Tell me no lies is one of my favorite books of all times. I would rank it as as much a classic as lord of scoundrels
@Amy–Congrats on knowing the answer!
Another vote here for ‘Tell Me No Lies’–I am on copy #3 or 4, I read the previous copies to death! It has a secure spot on my keeper shelf.
Best thing she ever wrote, IMO.
Oops, @Kareni (not @Amy)–lost track of who was talking to whom in the thread. {slinks away now… }
Trish and Barb, I’m delighted to see I’m not the only one who counts Tell Me No Lies as a longtime favorite.
Add my voice as one who’s on my second (third?) copy of Tell Me No Lies — it’s one of my all-time favorites.