When Signe, her husband, Rune, and their three boys arrive in Minnesota from Norway to help a relative clear his land of lumber, they dream of owning their own farm and building a life in the New World. But Uncle Einar and Aunt Gird are hard, demanding people, and Signe and her family soon find themselves worked nearly to the bone in order to repay the cost of their voyage. At this rate, they will never have land or a life of their own. Signe tries to trust God but struggles with anger and bitterness. She has left behind the only life she knew, and while it wasn’t an easy life, it wasn’t as hard as what she now faces. When a new addition to the family arrives, Signe begins to see how God has been watching over them throughout their ordeal. But after all that has happened, can she still believe in the promise of a bright future?
So, let’s talk about this book. This is the first Lauraine Snelling book I have read and it is also the first book in her brand new series Under Northern Skies. This book has been sitting on my nightstand for a couple weeks now because I could not get into the story. Finally, two nights ago, I picked it up again and started afresh. Guess what? I actually finished it last night, and I enjoyed the whole book.
Snelling wrote this story in the way that I, as the reader could almost feel as if I was Signe. Snelling described the hardships and heartaches of moving to the unknown to a tee. When I was reading this book, I kept thinking about what I would have done in Signe’s place. Would I have moved to the unknown, knowing that I would never see my family again. This book reminded me of my ancestral heritage and it gave me a picture of what it must have been like to leave everything behind to start a new life in the great unknown. This book is a great example of a well written book. It was intriguing, well written, it flowed from one page to the next, and it painted a vivid picture of the characters, thoughts, and actions.
If you are wanting to read this book, then I do have to mention one thing about the author’s writing style. She does write the book using the dialect of the Norwegian people and when reading this I could almost hear them talking like that. All of their names where also like that but once I knew who was who, I was fine.
Despite the sad parts of this book, the story was very good. It is a beautifully written story about those who gave up everything to settle the great unknown. I would recommend this book and am looking forward to reading more of Lauraine Snelling’s books.
Title: The Promise of Dawn
Author and her Website: Lauraine Snelling
I received this book from the Bethany House Publishing of the Baker Publishing Group for this review.
This review is written in my own words and is my honest opinion.
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