FOREDESTINED SUMMER: It's 1920, and although Swift McKinley, an American Indian raised in a white family on a Wisconsin dairy farm, is accustomed to his non-white status, he no longer can remain silent about his lifelong love for his blonde neighbor. To his great joy, Aurie Petersen not only reciprocates his feelings, she insists they will marry, despite her father's bitter opposition. Swift is astounded when he inherits an arid farm in North Dakota, and his foster siblings turn on him. Devastated by loss and rejection, the sensitive youth decides it will be best for Aurie if he leaves without telling her. Aurie, however, is both psychic and determined. She has "seen" their future in the dark eyes of her beloved, and they WILL be together, even if she has to follow him on horseback all the way to North Dakota. Choosing its moment, Fate intervenes, separating the young lovers and setting them on different paths to maturity and the family Aurie "knows" they are destined to create. FIRES OF WAR AND WINTER: In the early months of World War II, ambitious, clear-headed Melany McKinley meets Air Force lieutenant Logan Barre in Denver, Colorado. To their astonishment, the pragmatic couple instantly fall in love and become engaged. Logan is soon shipped overseas, and Melany meets Free Czech Army sergeant Daniel Wenceslaus. Daniel presents himself as a pesky young charmer, but he is much more, and soon reveals his grim determination to avenge the murder of his family by the Nazis. Brash, magnetic and dedicated, Daniel is also gifted with gypsy sight, and he "sees" Melany as his future wife and the mother of his children. To win her, he ignores her engagement to Logan and focuses on casting his magic. Then as Melany discovers her own psychic gift in the gemstones of her jeweler- employer, the darkness of war descends, altering not only her future, but the lives of many others. The Autumn in Cranky Otter series is a 20th Century American family tapestry, woven of the love stories and luminous psychic threads binding four generations.
