A girl from a wealthy family. A boy from the wrong side of the tracks. Mahala and Jason\'s love is star-crossed from the beginning not helped by the petty prejudices of people in small-town USA. In this twisting, turning melodrama, Gene Stratton-Porter throws everything into the story as the would-be lovers yearn to be together. Bigamy, adultery, typhoid fever, a riot, insanity you name it! This is a book with a surprise on every page: but the biggest shock is reserved for the end. Will Mahala and Jason\'s love triumph? This is perfect reading for fans of Elizabeth Gaskell\'s \'North and South\' and the works of George Eliot. Geneva Grace (Gene) Stratton-Porter (1863-1924) was an American author, photographer and naturalist. She also produced films during the silent movie era via the company Gene Stratton Porter Productions. A true polymath, she was most famous for her best-selling novels, which were read by 50 million people in the 1910s. Eight of her books have been made into movies, while two of her old houses in Indiana are now state historic sites. Stratton-Porter\'s novels include \'Freckles\', \'A Girl of the Limberlost\' and \'The Harvester\'.