Noah's Place - Ann Gray - Bog

If you think women's issues have run their course this book will change your mind. Protagonist Ragan Lawson, thrust into an era when female dentists, doctors, lawyers and police officers are a rarity and all too often merely a silent female foil she blazes an unstoppable trail for contemporary, female Baby Boomers. This novel moves quickly from Beloit Creek, a small Midwestern blue-collar hamlet were people are born into their future community roles to the City of Angels' seamy streets. Los Angeles, a place where bending the law and ignoring morality is the cost of doing business. Ragan, a teenage runaway, meets Alex Gunter, falls in love, they marry and enjoy an idyllic life with Alex' older brother Carl until it all falls apart when the brothers are brutally gunned-down during a South America drug deal. Once again alone in the big, hostile city Ragan finds the strength to go on; fighting discrimination at work, struggling with the loss of her husband and poverty she turns to school and completes a court reporter course. Later immersed in the drama of the Los Angeles courts Ragan meets Mark Schefer, wealthy, successful criminal attorney with two sons from a previous marriage. Ragan discovers following their marriage step children don't always welcome the new bride, in fact methods are devised to get rid of her. To complicate her life further her new husband becomes a stranger and her role in the household changes demanding much but rewarding little. Private Eye Oscar Redding uncovers the cause of Mark Schefer's dramatic transformation following his marriage to Ragan. Shocking and unforgiveable Ragan flees both her marriage and Los Angeles. San Diego becomes her playground and her new role working for a prosperous pharmaceutical company becomes her dream job. Ragan surrounds herself with activities and new friends creating a full-life filled with happiness. The years pass, an unprecedented recession descends on America leaving Ragan, with millions of others unemployed. She struggles with the challenge of her new circumstance until a young man and his basset hound move next door and what follows defines Ragan's unforgettable victory. A love story, connections made, connections lost, a tale of survival for a woman alone but possessed with unstoppable courage.