A Mystery Solved, A Prediction Fulfilled

A Mystery Solved, A Prediction Fulfilled is a dual-timeline novel that opens in 1962 with college junior Ellen Jones, a broadcast journalism major. Ellen has decisions to make about her career and personal life. She lost her former boyfriend, Luke, due to deceit and betrayal. Does she have feelings for Jo Jo, the boy who grew up with her at Callander?

But Ellen's current dilemma is a mystery back home in Marshall, Alabama. A carving in a mint julep cabinet indicates her great-grandmother married one man in May 1866, while an inscription in the family Bible says she married someone else seven months later. Ellen and Essie know little about Mary Ellen as they begin to trace the clues. We follow 15-year-old Mary Ellen Davis, a budding reporter and volunteer at Jericho School, where Thomas Brown Mitchell teaches the children of sharecroppers. Mary Ellen loves working with Thomas Brown but finds herself drawn to Thaddeus Baird, who is visiting the area for the summer.

This Ellen Jones novel is the third in a series from author Alayne Smith.