Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 Ida Bolender was a foster mother who looked like a schoolmarm. She was very efficient and diligent, but she didn't have time for superficialities. She had opened her home to underprivileged children in the 1920s, and she wanted a better life. #2 In 1918, Ida married Albert Wayne, and the couple moved to California. They had no plans other than to work hard and pray hard, and they lived what they believed was a decent life based on scripture. #3 Della Monroe, 49, was not a wealthy woman in 1925, but she still had a craving for extravagance. She would hunt down bargains wherever she could, even in places where she didn't feel welcome. She had been a spectacularly attractive woman in her prime, but time had not been kind to her. #4 Della was a free spirit who enjoyed what would have been considered a loose morality in the early 1900s. She had always been a clothes buyer for Ida Bolender, who made a decent amount of money from the church. Della was going to leave in December 1925 to join her husband in India.