Book excerpt: Her people uprooted by broken promises. Her heart torn by conflicting desires. The Trail of Tears: The forced exodus of the Cherokee people from their homeland in Georgia to make way for the white gold miners and settlers. Katherine Blue Song's family never lived to see the Trail of Tears. They were massacred just as she returned from Philadelphia, where she'd been one of the country's first women trained as a doctor. Justis Gallatin, a white man, a rough-and-ready miner, was Jesse Blue Song's friend and partner. Before he buried the victims of the massacre, he made a solemn promise to protect Katherine. But the lovely and headstrong Cherokee healer would not be protected or owned by any man. Her destiny was with her own people, to use her skills on the long, arduous journey westward. From plush New York hotels to the savage sorrow of the Trail of Tears, Katherine and Justis are torn asunder by a continent's history and hurled together because of a passion as vast as the lands they love, lost, and fight to regain. The Beloved Woman is the prequel to Follow The Sun, a collection of three contemporary novels about the Gallatin descendants. Deborah Smith is the New York Times and Kindle bestseller of more than thirty-five romance and women's fiction novels. A Place To Call Home has been voted one of the best romance novels of the 20th century in two reader surveys. The Crossroads Café was No. 1 on the Kindle bestseller list, and has more than 700 4.5 star reviews. Learn more about Deborah's books at www.bellbridgebooks.com.