Deeanne Gist

Deeanne Gist brings comic energy, carefully researched settings, and independent women to historical romance. A former elementary-school teacher and entrepreneur, she built a career around stories set in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America. Courting Trouble, published by Bethany House in 2007, opens the two-book Trouble sequence featuring Essie Spreckelmeyer. In 1894 Corsicana, Texas, the unconventional thirty-year-old decides to choose a husband for herself, turning the customs of courtship into both a source of humor and a test of independence. Essie returns in Deep in the Heart of Trouble, which carries her story forward four years. Gist’s fiction has received Christy Awards and several RITA nominations, recognition that reflects her place in inspirational historical romance. Across her books, archival detail supports lively plots rather than overwhelming them, while faith, work, family, and social convention shape the choices available to her characters.