Molly is a very interesting character. She came to the valley in The Medicine Box. When she arrived with her husband Tom and his bother Sam, she had just lost a baby (a baby that wasn’t her husband’s, but that’s a whole different story). Unfortunately, the person who quickly took the grieving young wife under her wing was Florence, the over-bearing, self-appointed overseer of how all things should be in the valley. This divided the women into two different groups–the Sullivan sisters and Florence along with those she tried to control. A lot of things, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, happen to Molly in The Sampler, even though she is not part of the romance of that book–Sam and Allie have those roles. By the time The Prisoner begins and Tristan MacPherson Sullivan comes to the valley, he finds a totally different woman from the one who came there several years before.
I have never tried to show how one person can change from a somewhat unlikable character to one who is worthy of a “happy ever after story” over the course of several books, but it was interesting and a bit of fun. I hope you like the journey Molly made to become a MacPherson Bride. (I don’t think I’m revealing any secret about what finally happens to Molly in the end. After all, The Prisoner is a romance, and she is on the cover.)
