The Button Necklace

Boarding the ship, Manchester, against the captain's advice, Mary Ann and her brother, James, find themselves relying on each other as they face the deprivations and hardships on their journey to Zion. Calling on the nursing skills her mother taught her, Mary Ann is asked to help when a young woman falls and is injured, opening the door to many more, and often heart wrenching, experiences. However, when James becomes ill, will those skills be enough? Will her new found faith be sufficient?This piece of historical fiction is shaped by the personal history of Mary Ann Francis and the histories, diaries and notes kept by some of those who traveled with her on the Manchester and in Captain John R. Murdock's Company.