Head in the Clouds

Head in the Clouds is a 2010 historical romance by Karen Witemeyer, published as a 366-page book and also issued in a large-print edition.

Adelaide Proctor's problem is a mismatch between her expectations and her situation. She wants a hero out of a story, and after an attempt at finding a husband ends in embarrassment she decides to give up the idea and take work instead. The position places her on a remote ranch with Gideon Wescott, an Englishman who left a privileged life to build a career in the American wool trade and who has ended up raising a child alone.

The daughter, Isabella, is the novel's centre. She has not spoken since her mother's death, and the arrival of an unconventional governess both worries and interests her father, while the uncle's claim to the girl and her inheritance gives the household an external threat to answer. Witemeyer writes inspirational historical romance, and the book's length and large-print edition show the library market it was produced for. Isabella is five, and her silence dates from her mother's death, so the governess is being asked to do something the household has not managed on its own.