Higher Ground

Gladys Smith

Dec 2008 · Books in Motion · Narrated by Laurie Klein

About this audiobook

Hattie Clark is an aging advocate of peace in an Idaho town torn by World War I. Crippled by a stroke, she hires Kirsta Strom, a German refugee, to help in her bookstore. But Kirsta has her own problems. A shyster lawyer and powerful man, Carl Foreman has some hold over her, and has her watched constantly. And she must deal with new neighbors, who hate her for her German birth and treat her cruelly. Hattie feels compelled to protect the woman and her young daughter Patrina against Foreman’s demands and neighbors’ abuse. Then Hattie’s adopted son Toby falls in love with Kirsta and asks Hattie to watch over his beloved while he is away battling Kirsta’s countrymen. As Toby endures – and matures in – the fiery crucible of war, Hattie braves personal danger to save Kirsta and discover the woman’s mysterious past. What she finds both touches and shocks her. A glimpse of America at war, when hometown values are turned upside-down and family ties are ripped to shreds. Where war is a religion, and Americans see German spies lurking around every corner. Where prejudice disguised as patriotism rules the day, and people like Hattie struggle to restore family.