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Dear Friends,
I feel that you, my readers, have indeed become friends over the years since 1979, when Clark and Marty first came to life on the pages of Love Comes Softly. Actually, these two characters had lived in my heart and imagination some time before that and had already become dear to me.
The journey for me since then, with both my readers and characters, has been long and exciting—a journey in which I have felt God’s leading, for it certainly has been beyond my planning or even dreams.
When Love Comes Softly was published, I had no intention of writing a sequel. As far as I knew, the story was complete with Clark and Marty allowing the Lord to kindle a genuine care and love for each other in their hearts. But readers had other ideas, and many letters asked, “What happens next?” With the encouragement of Carol Johnson, editor at Bethany House, I laid aside plans for my next novel and wrote instead the continuation of the Davis family saga. I was apprehensive, I must confess, as I sat down to write, not at all sure it would work. But readers must have felt satisfied, and they asked for more. Eventually there were eight novels in the Love Comes Softly series, and Clark and Marty have become old friends to many readers over the years.
I went on to other characters and stories, but requests kept coming. One reader even acknowledged praying for the Davis family! Others had suggestions for how I should continue the saga, and a few implored me to at least tell them what else happened if I wasn’t going to actually write more books in the series! At last I acquiesced, and four more novels were added in A Prairie Legacy series. But we had to stop there. Enough years were covered over the twelve novels to bring Clark and Marty to the final years of their life together. Like many of you, neither did I wish to mourn their deaths.
These two characters, though fictional, represent many in my own life—and no doubt in yours, also—who have taught lessons, both practical and spiritual. Each struggle Clark and Marty worked through, I struggled through with them. Each triumph they experienced was my own. Each truth about the faithfulness of the God they served was a wonderful reminder to me. I have shared their days of sunshine and their times of dark shadow. I have felt myself grow—quietly but continuously—in my inner self. God has used the development of these characters to help me stretch beyond where I have been.
So even though we have said good-bye to the Davis family, it is with deep tenderness and a personal thankfulness for what these fictional people have added to my life. My prayer is that their lives and impact might travel on beyond my own—for my days, like all, will be numbered. Through the printed pages of this book and others, God willing, their lives will continue in the hearts and minds of readers like you.
Sincerely,
Janette