All Jessica’s friends are already married and have families. Believing that true love will never come her way, she settles for the man she sees as her last chance. He’s handsome and charming, but also a ne’er-do-well–Zachary Belk. Jessica’s father, a highly successful businessmen in 1860’s Manhattan, warns her against the marriage. Jessica doesn’t want to go against his advice, but Zachary is the only man in New York who has courted her. She agrees to be Zachary’s wife, but she soon regrets it as she discovers her carousing husband doesn’t share her want for a domestic life.

The stock market crash of 1869 changes all their lives. Born into wealth, Jessica never had to ask the price of anything. Now the cost of simply putting food on the table is the first thing on her mind when she awakes every morning. Jessica must adapt drastically to being penniless. (Historical fiction, $0.99 on Kindle.)