An old schoolhouse west of Innisfail is the setting for a new romance novel about to be released.
Stubborn Hearts, written by Innisfail resident and owner of Studio Arts, Carol Ritten Smith, was inspired by the local one-room school in the Big Bend District west of Innisfail. After it closed, it became the community centre. It's since been moved to the Caroline museum.
“My husband and our family used to go out there for different functions and I loved the warm feel of the place,” said Ritten Smith. “There were old school photos on the wall. I admired how one young teacher could handle teaching so many children of different ages and levels.”
Ritten Smith has been writing short stories and articles for magazines and anthologies for 20 years. Stubborn Hearts will be her debut book. She said she's always wanted to write a romance set in the early 1900s in Alberta so it made sense to choose a schoolteacher as her heroine.
“The school had pictures of the teachers and the students on the wall. And they looked like such a motley crew. Teachers had to be gutsy in those years,” she said, adding they were often young, around 19 or 20.
Although she was inspired by the schoolhouse, the rest of the novel is fiction, taking place in the made-up community of Whistle Creek.
The heroine, Beth Patterson, is a recently hired schoolteacher hiding from the law and looking to make a fresh start. Tom Carver, the local blacksmith, finds her prowling in his barn. Her reason for being there sparks his suspicion, and over the next few weeks he finds ways to devise “chance” encounters so he can see if she's up to anything.
He finds out she is a devoted sister, and beautiful, loving woman.
Ritten Smith said it isn't a racy romance, it's more of a “sweet romance.”
She will be reading portions of her novel at the Innisfail Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 26.
Her book, published by Crimson Romance, will be released Aug. 6 and available from amazon.com, BN.com and other eBook retailers. A print-on-demand version is planned as well for sometime later this year.
To contact Ritten Smither, email her at [email protected].
