About the Book

Book: A Spring at the Greenbrier

Author: Sandra Merville Hart

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: April 30, 2024

Marilla will sacrifice anything for her family. So when her sister’s doctor suggests daily sulphur spring baths, an amenity her family could never afford, Marilla takes a job at The Greenbrier resort bathhouse in order to give her sister the care she needs. When her sister befriends another girl staying at the resort with a similar health condition, Marilla finds herself crossing paths with the girl’s handsome, charming, older brother. And despite their growing attraction to each other, courting Wes must remain a dream. After all, resort staff cannot court guests and Marilla will not risk her sister’s health for her own happiness.

Wealthy resort guest, Wes Bakersfield, has dreams for a future and plans to make his family’s business his own. And while he finds himself drawn to Marilla, despite their differing social classes, he can’t help but wonder if she is really interested in him, or in his wealth.

Can the couple find the trust to help their love succeed, or will their differences pull them apart?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Sandra Merville Hart, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of inspirational historical romances, loves to discover little-known yet fascinating facts from American history to include in her stories. Her desire is to transport her readers back in time. She is also a blogger, speaker, and conference teacher.

More from Sandra

In A Spring at The Greenbrier, Book 7 in Romance at the Gilded Age Resorts Series, Marilla, our heroine, is as desperate as her mother to find healing for her younger sister’s polio. When the doctor recommends daily bathing in the sulphur springs, her family cannot afford the cost. Marilla transfers to the bath wing at The Greenbrier where her new boss allows her to bring her sister at the end of each day after the guests have finished their bathing sessions. It makes for a long day yet the sacrifice is worth her exhaustion if the springs can help her ten-year-old sister.

The Greenbrier, a beautiful and elegant resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, first received its fame from healthy benefits of drinking the sulphur springs and bathing in its waters.

Both the hero and heroine in A Spring at The Greenbrier have younger sisters who can benefit from heated spring baths.

The bulk of my research for this story was for the springs and what illnesses benefit from them. I had to discover the illnesses for which doctors recommended the baths historically.

Soothing soaks in hot springs are recommended even today. They can boost blood circulation, reduce pain, improve skin conditions, reduce stress, decrease inflammation in joints, and detoxify the body.

Most resort guests in the early days drank tumblers of the water before each meal. A resort doctor in the 1800s cautioned taking a maximum of 12 glasses daily. Health benefits for the bowels, liver, kidneys, and skin most often appeared between three to six weeks. The resort began to sell it in bottles at drug stores. It was labelled as A Natural Laxative.

Major renovations were done by new owners for a grand reopening in September of 1913. Marilla, our heroine, begins working at the Women’s Department of the new bath wing. Female guests enjoyed heated sulphur spring baths in bathing rooms. Doctors sent their wealthy patients to the springs with a recommended regimen of bathing that might also include drinking the spring water. The temperature of the water, the frequency, and the length of the baths were set by their doctor.

Folks suffering from a variety of ailments sought benefits from the spring waters, including gout, rheumatism, arthritis, neuritis, dyspepsia, jaundice, scurvy, hay fever, malaria, bronchitis, asthma, and chronic diseases of the skin, stomach, bowels, and liver.

Mineral waters can harm people with aneurisms in the heart and large arteries, cancer, tubercular consumption, and some brain complaints.

The springs were of great benefit for folks suffering from chronic complaints. These benefits happened so gradually that patients started to feel better “without being able to account for it.”

So there were a lot of conditions to choose from for my two ailing girls in my story.

A Spring at The Greenbrier is a nostalgic story set in 1914. I invite you to read the whole series!

Interview with Sandra

What book is currently on your bedside table?

The book on top of the stack—is there ever just one book on that bedside table?—is Crinoline Cowboys, a collection of four novellas. I really looking forward to reading these stories where four women head West to Crinoline Creek, Texas.

But before I crack open that book, I’ll read Freedom’s Pride by Pegg Thomas. If you haven’t read any of her books, I highly recommend them. You feel as if you’re right there with the characters in an ever-deepening web of trouble. That’s my next read.

Can you share with us something about the book that isn’t in the blurb?

The story’s main setting is White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, at The Greenbrier in 1914. Wes’s family has done well for decades making wheeled, horse-drawn vehicles such as carriages, surreys, and wagons.

An average of thirteen people out of one thousand owned an automobile in 1913, so horse-drawn vehicles are still in high demand. Wes is looking into the future, educating himself on learning the automobile industry. His secret goal is to open the family’s first car factory. He’s dropped hints to his father that cars would be around long after carriages went out of style. Unfortunately, his father has taken on the conversion of one of their current factories into a car factory with the help of a new partner, skipping Wes’s input altogether.

Wes feels ready to take on this new venture. Why won’t his father give him an opportunity?

Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?

Katie, Marilla’s ten-year-old sister who has been crippled by polio, definitely tugs at my heart. Her former friends avoid her because she can’t run in a wheelchair. She can’t even attend school. Her loneliness is masked under a positive attitude. Mama has promised her a birthday party. It’s three months away yet she worries how many of her friends will come.

Her biggest dream is learning to walk again so she can attend school with her friends.     

Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

I love to connect with readers!

I share historical recipes and food-related posts, American history posts, and book reviews on my blog, Historical Nibbles.  I also share recipes from my books and historical background for my stories. It’s a lot of fun—and a fair amount of work—to maintain this blog. I invite readers to check it out.

Please join my Facebook Group, Readers of Author Sandra Merville Hart! https://www.facebook.com/groups/660915885257576. This is where I host release parties—with prizes!—and share about my books. Hope you can join us!

You can find me on my blog, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Goodreads, Amazon Author Page, and BookBub.

Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

I’m so happy you asked!

My Spies of the Civil War Series continues with River of Peril, Book 5, which will release in October! This book will continue with some of the characters you’ve grown to love in Book 4. Of course, the book’s main setting is Vicksburg. The story starts with Felicity learning that Luke has been wounded in December of 1862. He’s in a Vicksburg hospital where she volunteers—with amnesia. He doesn’t remember her and it breaks her heart.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, May 1

Book Looks by Lisa, May 1

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 2

Devoted To Hope, May 3

Texas Book-aholic, May 3

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 4

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 5

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 5

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, May 6 (Author Interview)

She Lives To Read, May 7

Books You Can Feel Good About, May 7

Blogging With Carol, May 8

Simple Harvest Reads, May 9 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

For him and My Family, May 9

Blossoms and Blessings, May 10

The Lofty Pages, May 11

Bizwings Book Blog, May 11

Connie’s History Classroom, May 12

Holly’s Book Corner, May 13

Pause for Tales, May 13

Life on Chickadee Lane, May 14

Cover Lover Book Review, May 14

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sandra is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/2b35d/a-spring-at-the-greenbrier-celebration-tour-giveaway