Ashley Clark Books In Order

Publication Order of Fairhope Books

Publication Order of Heirloom Secrets Books

Ashley Clark is a romance and women’s fiction author. She dreamed of becoming a writer since the thumbprint-cookie-days of library story hour. Ashley holds an M.A. in English and teaches literature courses as a supplement.
Her work got a chance to be reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Library Journal and Booklist.

The author is also an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers. When not writing, Ashley always rescues stray animals and feeds her curriculum-buying habit as a homeschool mother.

The Dress Shop on King Street is a story set in the post-WWII American South and switches to the present day. Harper Dupree’s dream of a career in fashion has been dimmed, so she chooses to return to Alabama, her hometown, to live with the woman who guided her how to sew.
In Alabama, she meets Peter, an improbable property developer. Millie Middleton is a professional seamstress with hopes that one day she’ll open her dress shop, but things have kept pushing her way. She can now see the hope of achieving her longtime dream with the help of Harper and Peter.

In the course of the story, Millie takes the reader from her first dream pointing out the many reasons why it never came to reality. It’s clear from the beginning that Millie is hiding something and not just that she’s a mixed race posing as white in 1960s Georgia where the second-class citizen treatment is a thing.

First, there is Rose and Ashley, who are caught up in the dilemma of a choice that no mother should’ve ever made. Millie is a part of their lineage, and she’s forced to begin a new life away from her mother. It’s heartbreaking to see many girls separated from their mothers at an early age in this family.

Millie strives to survive in the world, living on the Italian side of her family as she pushes the Black aside. Her battle with her two races throughout the story is palpable, and the reader can feel the struggle right from the beginning to the last step.
Harper is a young lady whose dream of owning a dress shop seems far from her reach. When things get tough, she prefers to run instead of fighting for what she wants. Lucky for her life brings her back to Millie, who has secrets and knows what to be on the run feels like.
Even though Harper’s steady-growing romance with Peter gives a lot of weight, the story’s impact and heart are Millie’s. The story pushes the readers to face the injustices that happened in the past and question themselves what they can do to make a change for those in the present time while ensuring that history doesn’t repeat itself.

The tale also shows that some injustices have repercussions lasting up to decades. Some of these injustices can’t be fixed or made right.

The Dress Shop on King Street is about identity, whether racial or cultural identity. It also shows identity as Christians encouraging us to chase God-given dreams regardless of age. The novel pushes the reader to look back to where the country has come from to where it is now. There is no way around it, and while that’s good, it’s sad considering where it stands in the present.

In the story, the author also introduces characters like Franklin, who has a zest for life to take chances and fall for one woman for his entire life. Every reader will like him from the first time he’s introduced to you.
On the other hand, Peter is a very nice man and the kind of guy each parent hopes their daughter to end up with. He’s a historian due to the circumstances that happen in his life. He and Harper love restoring old things, him with buildings and her with accessories and clothing.
Millie connects them as soon pieces fall together.

The Dress Shop on King Street is about rigid women who faced the horrors of slavery and the evil of prejudice and the efforts to protect their children. It’s a story of love between mothers and their daughters, showing how the characters faced and later overcame heartbreak and loss.

It also shows how one faced an impossible choice, persevered through heartbreak, and always put her children first. The author doesn’t shy away from showing the love between two characters who are connected in ways they can’t imagine.
The novel switches between timelines while stitching together a story of courage, hope and love in the middle of loss and prejudice. The Dress Shop on King Street is a great tale and one for the ages.

Paint and Nector is a follow-up to the debut novel in the Heirloom Secret series. The story is set between 1929 to the present day as the story connects to the character in the first book that began some years before the civil war.
It’s a book about art and heirlooms and a war between families with consequences in the present day. Past and current Charleston are all lovely, and you’ll enjoy the luxuriant details of the gardens.

The novel is about how short-lived things can be and how beautiful they make out lives. Just because some things are brief doesn’t mean they aren’t beautiful. There comes a time when being appreciated brings out the beauty in someone.
The novel shows that sometimes beautiful things need to be protected not because they are beautiful but because of the memories and legacy they hold.

Lucy Lagare is aware of all this as the new owner of a historic Charleston home that needs good care. She also needs some care by herself, and her success becomes tied up in how well she can preserve her home.

Declan Pinckney has plans to use the property for his family’s development ignoring all the personal doubts he might have. As these two learn new discoveries about the past of their two families, personal convictions and family expectations collide.
The novel is a more of an enemies-to-lovers thing which turns out to be a beautiful story.