Tales of Love and Valor

About the Book

A Wife from Scotland Fiona Stoute Liddell lives a quiet life as a veterinarian in rural Utah—far away from her scheming Scottish family—until she meets Solomon Fairchild, an American rancher from Boston, and rescues him from a life of self-exile. Their fateful love takes them to Scotland, where they marry in Aberdeen near Fiona’s clan that is led by legendary horse whisperers and where all members of the secretive Freemason Society. Can their carefree love survive these ancient rituals and superstitions? Tooele to Manila Affable Pete “Skip” Granger and his fervent wife, Madeleine, meet and marry in the Philippines at the end of World War II where he, a colonel under General Douglas MacArthur and a New England Quaker, develops a highly profitable ship salvage business in Manila Bay and she is a courageous wartime nurse and devout Mormon from Tooele, a small ranching town in Utah. The story follows their courageous but often contentious life together as Madeleine struggles to maintain her faith and identity as they become increasingly entangled with Solomon Fairchild’s Boston Brahmin family.

About the Author

David Taylor Johannesen was born in Salt Lake City, a fifth-generation Mormon and great-great grandson of Church President John Taylor. Educated in Massachusetts where he discovered his love of sailing and sonnets, Johannesen went on to a career in international banking while continuing his life as a poet and writer of literary fiction. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania, New York University and Trinity College Oxford, Johannesen currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Linda and border collie Fallon. Previous publications include Falcons and Seagulls – A Utah Tale; Last One Close the Gate; and Vespers East & West.