Author: KIRKPATRICK, JANEISBN: 9781578569816Publisher: RANDOM HOUSE USYear first published: 16 Mar 2010Pages: 400 Format: Paperback / softbackSecond in the Portraits of a Heart series by award-winning author Jane Kirkpatrick, An Absence So Great continues Jane's critically-acclaimed tradition of bringing real women of history to life. Rich in emotion and historical detail, An Absence So Great will appeal to readers of period novels as well as those who are drawn to stories of independent women pioneering their way in a challenging, man's world.Did photography replace an absence in her life or expose the truth of her heart's emptiness?While growing in confidence as a photographer, eighteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele's personal life is at a crossroads. Hoping she's put an unfortunate romantic longing behind her as "water under the bridge," she exiles herself to Milwaukee to operate photographic studios for those owners who have fallen ill with mercury poisoning. Jessie gains footing in her dream to one day operate her own studio and soon finds herself in other Midwest towns, pursuing her profession. But even a job she loves can't keep painful memories from seeping into her heart when the shadows of a forbidden love threaten to darken the portrait of her life.
