Whether it’s riding bikes, catching snakes, or sliding down
banisters, Essie Spreckelmeyer just can’t quite make herself into the
ideal woman her hometown—and her mother—expect her to be. It’s going to
take an extraordinary man to appreciate her joy and spontaneity—or so
says her doting oil-man father.
Unfortunately such a man doesn’t appear to reside in Corsicana, Texas.
It’s 1894, the year of Essie’s thirtieth birthday, and
she decides the Lord has more important things to do than provide her a
husband. If she wants one, she needs to catch him herself. So, she
writes down the names of all the eligible bachelors in her small Texas
town, makes a list of their attributes and drawbacks, closes her eyes,
twirls her finger, and … picks one.
But convincing the lucky “husband-to-be” is going to a bit more of a problem.