Coldly rejected as a family embarrassment by her arrogant Bostonian father, Sarah Thornton heads west to make a new life for herself and her expected child, only to have her world turned upside down when a stranger's kindness and a chance train wreck provide her with a new identity, a new reason to live?and a new burden of guilt. The sexual tension simmers relentlessly between the conflicted heroine and the rigid but redeemable hero; and although a lack of trust leads to frustrating misunderstandings and a too conveniently greedy villainess detracts from the story, the many well-drawn characters?including an appallingly bawdy, drunken mother?and the heroine's inherent kindness and sense of honor will please readers who like their romances gently paced.
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Wikipedia in English
So it was with Cheryl St. John's 1998 novel The Mistaken Widow. In 1869, unmarried, pregnant Sarah Thornton has been disowned by her rich father in Boston. While travelling out West by train, she meets Claire and Stephen Halliday, a friendly couple who offer her their sleeper berth while they go to eat dinner. A horrible train wreck kills Stephen and Claire but brother Nicholas Halliday, like everyone else, presumes Sarah is Claire and so takes her home to his family. Sarah, having no money or future for her infant son, plays along with the charade, meaning to explain the truth, as soon as it is convenient.
Sarah is a wonderful heroine truly caught in a horrible lie and farce. She so wants to be truthful because she feels genuine love and affection for Leda, her "mother-in-law" and starts to feel great lust and desire for Nicholas, her"brother-in-law". Her generous nature and kind demeanor endear her to all, except Nicholas, who remains very suspicious of Sarah/Claire, despite his reciprocal lustful feelings.
The whole time I kept wondering: how will Sarah's lie be found out? When? When??? I could hardly stand the suspense as I zipped thorugh the book.
The ending was extremely satisfying and calmed me right down. I have read other novels by St. John and have rarely been disappointed. (