2026 Gold Winner of the Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPY) for Audiobook - Fiction

2025 BronzIt is 1827 and Sarah Seely DeWitt finds herself at the center of Texas history in its earliest and bloodiest period. Sarah's journey from St. Louis to Texas catches her up in a love triangle, forces her into a struggle for her family's survival, and pitches her headlong into the whirlwind of war. Based on actual events leading up to the 1836 Texas Revolution, The Empresario's Wife chronicles the struggles of a young American Everywoman and the events that change her and the nation forever.

The Empresario’s Wife is published by Bold Story Press, whose mission is to empower women to create narratives, beak barriers, and shape the world through their voices. When women’s voices are heard, the world is a better place.

“Barbara Seeber has written women into Texas history—it’s about time!” – Francine Edson, a Texas reader

“Seeber’s novel is prodigiously researched and richly detailed (the narrative contains a wealth of historical nuggets), a textured and atmospheric recreation of time and place with a vividly drawn female lead. Through Sarah’s personal struggles and development, readers are viscerally brought into a piece of history that is traditionally dominated by accounts of the military battles. This is a story of female grit and determination in the face of overwhelming challenges.” – Kirkus Reviews

“In this epic family tale, part history, part legend, gifted storyteller Barbara Seeber ventures into the Texas of the 1820s and 30s, a wild sometimes brutal land, but a land of freedom and opportunity. Feisty Sarah Seeley DeWitt, Seeber’s fourth-great grandmother, meets it head on...For Seeber to have re-discovered Sarah and brought her to life through dynamic, uplifting prose, is a gift to her family, to Texas, to all who revere the story of America, and especially to women. Here is a hero.” – Barbara Brownell Grogan, Former Editor-in-Chief, National Geographic Books