Introduction

It is the beginning of a new century at Lake Manawa Resort in Iowa, but some things never change. When 22-year-old Emily Graham's meddlesome aunts and grandmother take it upon themselves to find her a husband among the resort guests, the spunky suffragist is determined to politely decline each and every suitor. She has neither the time nor the need for a man in her busy life.

Carter Stockton, a recent college graduate and pitcher for the Manawa Owls baseball team, intends to enjoy every minute of the summer at Lake Manawa, Iowa, before he is forced into the straitlaced business world of his father.

When Emily crashes into Carter at a roller skating rink, neither could guess what would come next. Will Carter strike out? Or will Emily cast her vote for a love that might cost her dreams?

The perfect summer novel, A Great Catch will enchant readers with its breezy setting and endearing characters.

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Excerpt

Lake Manawa, Iowa, 1901

Three blind mice.

Three little pigs.

Three days in the belly of a whale.

Emily Graham stifled a moan. Some of the worst things in
life came in threes, and she was facing her favorite meddlesome
trio right now.

“The right to vote won’t warm your bed at night, dear.”
Aunt Millie poured fresh lemonade from a crystal pitcher
into four glasses, then blotted her round face with a handkerchief.
Even though the table, complete with an heirloom
lace tablecloth, sat in the shade of the Grahams’ cabin at
Lake Manawa, the late May heat brought a sheen to her
aunt’s crinkled brow.

Emily pressed the glass of lemonade to her cheek and
watched the sailboats on the lake lazily glide across the rippling
surface. “As hot as it is, the last thing I want is a warm
bed.”

“Honestly, what are we going to do with you?” Aunt Ethel,
rail thin, stiffened in her chair, and Emily imagined her aunt
would launch into a tirade concerning Emily’s character flaws
at any minute.

Aunt Ethel turned toward her older silvery-haired sister,
Emily’s grandmother. “It’s your fault, Kate. You filled her
head with all those ridiculous notions of changing the world,
women voting, and all that other nonsense. Now look at her.
She’s twenty-three years old, and she’s still not married.”
“I’m twenty-two, Aunt Ethel.”

“But your birthday’s just around the corner.”

Emily rolled her eyes. “It’s six months away.”

“So sad. Almost a spinster.” Aunt Millie shook her head
and smoothed her apron. “If we don’t do something soon,
no man is going to want a woman that advanced in years.”
“I guess it’s up to us.” Aunt Ethel tsked and patted Emily’s
hand. “Even though you’re no great catch, don’t worry,
dear. With the three of us on the job, we’ll have a man on
your arm in no time.”

“Three?” Emily felt a millstone sink to the pit of her stomach.

She turned to her grandmother. “I thought you were on
my side.”

Grandma Kate smiled. “I am. That’s why I’m going to help.
If I leave it up to your aunts, they’ll have you married off to
some spineless simpleton you’d have henpecked in a matter
of days, or some bald, solid member of the community that
every other bright girl has already discarded.”

“Do I even want to know what these two have in mind?”

The corners of Grandma Kate’s crinkly mouth bowed.

“Probably not.”

“Trust us, dear. We have your best interests at heart.” Aunt
Millie held out a plate. “Prune cake?”

“No thank you.” Emily checked the watch hanging on the
chain around her neck. “I have to go now. I promised to meet
some friends to go roller-skating.”

“You’re not going out in that abysmal outfit.” Aunt Ethel’s
face pinched. “It’s hardly proper.”

Emily held out the sides of her sporting ensemble, complete
with a shorter-length, divided moss-green walking skirt. “I
can’t very well skate in a full skirt. I’d kill myself.”

“You probably will anyway,” Aunt Ethel said solemnly.

“Ethel!” Grandma Kate shot her a warning glance. “It’s not
Emily’s fault she struggles a bit in the art of gracefulness.”

“A bit?” Aunt Millie chuckled. “That’s like saying I’m a
bit old.”

“Aunties, Grandma, we’ll talk about all of this later.”

Aunt Ethel squeezed Emily’s forearm. “No need to thank
us, dear. It’s our pleasure to help.”

After buckling the metal roller skates to her boots, Emily
pulled the straps tight and dabbed her upper lip with a handkerchief.
Patrons of the roller-skating rink, the newest addition
to Lake Manawa’s Midway and ever-growing resort,
lined the bench beside her.

“I can’t believe you two talked me into this again.” Emily
set her feet on the paved brick sidewalk, shook the wrinkles
from her skirt, and smiled at her two dearest friends, Lilly
Hart and Marguerite Andrews.

“You’re the one who said we should challenge ourselves to
grow.” Lilly, formerly Marguerite’s personal maid and still her
best friend, grabbed Emily’s hand and pulled her to her feet.
“I said we needed to challenge our minds, not break our
necks.” Emily wobbled, and Marguerite caught her arm.

“Careful.”

“You both realize that you are putting yourselves at great
risk. It’s common knowledge I could trip over a chalk line
drawn on the sidewalk.”

“You were a little shaky when we started last time, but you
caught on just fine.” Lilly kept a firm hold on Emily’s elbow.

“Besides, teaching you to skate is the best excuse Marguerite
and I have for getting a break from our children.”
Keeping a hand on the door frame, Emily rolled in behind
her friends. Her lips turned downward as the excitement
soured. “Did you have to ask your husbands for permission
to come today?”

“Tate takes a long afternoon nap, so Trip doesn’t mind.”
Marguerite paused to give the clerk her coin. “Did Ben give
you any trouble about coming today, Lilly?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. Besides, Levi’s with my
mama.” She deposited her nickel on the counter. “And probably
being spoiled rotten.”

Emily fished a coin from her chatelaine purse attached to
the wide belt at her waist. “I can’t imagine having to ask a
man if I can go somewhere. How utterly degrading.”
Marguerite stepped onto the smooth wooden floor of the
rink. “That’s what I used to think.”

“And now she’s just a plain old married woman.” Lilly
laughed as she followed her onto the floor.

“And you’re not?” Marguerite countered. “Emily, it’s not
that I ask permission, really. Trip and I share our lives. It’s
more of a common courtesy.”

Emily eased out onto the rink, pausing to adjust to the
feel of the wheels on her feet. “But what if Trip told you no?
If he said he didn’t want you to go, would you be here?” She
wavered on the uneven floor and narrowly avoided the boy
in front of her. His brows knit in anger, and she shrugged
in apology. Why did skating and speaking at the same time
have to be so difficult?

“The right answer is probably ‘no,’ but I can’t honestly say
I’d obey him. I’m not sure what I’d do.” Marguerite smoothed
a crinkle in her skirt.

“I am.” Lilly spun backward with ease. “You’d be here
now and fight with him later.”

“That’s why I’m not sure marriage is for me. Obey? Even
the word irritates me.”

Lilly laughed. “You just need to find the right person—
like we have.” Emily started to lose her balance, and Lilly
caught her hands. “Relax. Don’t fight it. Think of the skates
as wheels on your feet.”

“Remember, I’m not graceful on my feet without the
skates.”

They giggled, and Marguerite linked her arm in Emily’s.

“You’re your own worst enemy. Smile. Act like you’re having
fun.”

“It would certainly be acting.” Emily adjusted her hat, set
askew by her last near fall. “I’m holding you two back. Why
don’t you two go skate together awhile and let me practice
on my own for a few minutes?”

“We couldn’t do that.” Lilly twirled in a circle.

“Please. It’s hard for me to talk and concentrate on the
task at hand. I need about ten minutes to get used to this.”

“Are you sure?” Marguerite worried her bottom lip between
her teeth.

Emily reached for the wall to steady herself. “Yes. Please,
I’ll do better on my own. I certainly couldn’t do worse.”

“Ten minutes,” Lilly said. “And no hugging the wall.”

Like birds set free from their cage, the two friends sped off.

Lilly skated with such ease she made it look as if she’d been
doing it all her life, and Marguerite looked angelic floating
around the rink with her blonde hair surrounding her head
like a halo. Emily felt a stab of jealousy but pushed it away.
It wasn’t their fault she’d been born without an ounce of
athletic prowess.

She let go of the wall and shoved off, determined to master
at least one lap around the rink. It might not be fair that fear
pulsed through her every time another skater whooshed by,
but that wouldn’t stop her. It never had before.

Despite her worries, her wobbly legs seemed to solidify
as she rolled down the length of the maple floor. The soft
thunk, thunk, thunk of her skates passing over the boards
caused her confidence to grow. She rounded the first corner
by pressing her hand to the wall and grinned. Perhaps she’d
get used to this yet.

Relax. Don’t think about the skates.

Maybe if she concentrated on something else, like the Council
Bluffs Equal Suffrage Club. With the recent failure of the
Iowa legislature to amend the state’s constitution, the women
were despondent, tired after losing a hard fight. As their local
president, she needed something to rally the troops—something
they could put their wholehearted efforts into. They couldn’t
quit before they’d won the right to vote. She wouldn’t let them.
Would a husband complicate all she hoped to accomplish?
Marguerite and Lilly had been able to participate in the fight,
but having young children affected the amount of time they
could commit to the cause. As a single woman, she was free
to give the effort her undivided attention.

She reached the end of the rink and bit her lip when she
crossed her right boot over her left, as she’d seen Lilly and
Marguerite do many times.

Suddenly her feet tangled. Arms spinning like the paddle
wheels of a steamboat, she teetered precariously to the right,
then the left. Strong hands tightened around her waist and
attempted to move her out of the way. Instead, she gave an
ungainly kick and fell hard against the person holding her.
Air whooshed from her lungs as they tumbled together onto
the floor, a heap of knotted limbs and skates.
_
... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the publisher:

1. Lilly claims people do everything for the same reason—“To love and be loved.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
2. Emily says her grandmother has often told her, “It’s one thing to say you support something. It’s something else altogether to fight for it.” Apply this to our world today. Are there causes you support but aren’t actively fighting? What makes a person willing to champion a cause?
3. Sibling relationships affect us all. Martin found it hard to admit to himself that Emily was an adult. Nathan wanted Carter to follow in his footsteps. How did Emily and Carter’s sibling relationship affect them? What roll has birth order played in your life? Has your relationship changed with your siblings with time? If you have children, how did you discourage sibling rivalry?
4. In his sermon, Brother Fossen said, “If you don’t let the Lord make your paths straight, you’ll spend your life running in circles.” How does this fit with the first verse given in the book—Proverbs 3:6 “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths”? How did Emily demonstrate the running in circles concept? Do you ever feel like you are running in circles? Why do you think you allow that to happen?
5. Cisterns were large wells dug to collect rain water. If there was a crack, the water might remain for a little while, but then leak out. Why did this make a good symbol for Emily’s life? Are we, as a society, collecting rain in broken cisterns? Why or why not?
6. One of the themes of A Great Catch was significance. How did Emily’s quest for finding her place in the world affect her choices?
7. Grandma Kate gave Emily a lot of advice in A Great Catch. Which of her words of wisdom did you appreciate the most? Have you received any special words of wisdom from your own grandparents?
8. What qualities about Aunt Ethel and Aunt Millie did you enjoy most? Which woman would you want for an aunt? Do you have any eccentric relatives in your family? What did you think of way Emily handled them?
9. Women have enjoyed the right to vote for over 75 years now. What did you learn about or see differently about the suffrage fight while reading A Great Catch? Why was the right to vote so important for women? If you had lived in 1901, do you think you would have been a suffragist? Why or why not?
10. Emily definitely struggled with clumsiness. Do you believe this was because of her perception of herself or because of an actual problem with gracefulness? How did this “flaw” affect Emily? Have you struggled with any similar problems? How can you relate to her embarrassing moments?

Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author Lorna Seilstad's web site

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