6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable read with a gentle love story, March 11, 2006
This is the first book that I have read by Dorothy Garlock and I very much enjoyed it. I had picked it not realising that it was sent in Frontier America - a time and place that don't hold any particular interest for me. However, from the first page I was hooked on the story.
Ana, a widow, receives a letter from her stepdaughter (just 11 years younger than her, at 16) who ran away to marry the man who had got her pregnant. She summons Ana to attend the birth and thus Ana is thrust into a strange family with all their secrets and problems.
Harriet dies in childbirth and Ana promises her at the end that she will bring up the baby, Harry. This binds her to Harriet's husband's family as the baby's father and Harriet's husband, Owen Jamison, won't allow her to leave. His sister, Esther, has treated Harriet abysmally and treats Ana similarly. The story unfolds as we learn about the history of Esther, Owen and their absent brother Paul and the way in which it has bound them together but also caused them huge pain. The writing is excellent, with great period detail about living and working in America of the nineteenth century.
There is a gentle love story which is a joy to read, and as the events unfold and we learn that things aren't necessarily as they seem, the resolution is very satisfying.
I enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to others.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
My Favorite from Dorothy Garlock!, January 31, 2000
This book is one of my all time favorites.I have reread it many times. The characters engaged me immediately. Because my family farmed in Missouri, the setting of 1880's Iowa captured my imagination. I like that Mrs. Garlock uses characters who have real life afflictions and the main characters have to cope with them; in this book it is mental illness, mental retardation, and teenage rebellion. I also like how the hero has his own personal issues to overcome and is not just the savior for the heroine. The warmth of family life is here too. If you like Dorothy Garlock's books, this will become one of your favorites too.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good!, April 26, 2001
Dorothy Garlock has written another wonderful book. This one looks at the family dynamics on a small farm in Missouri and the joy one woman brings into an abused family.
This is definitly heavier material than in most Garlock books but well worth it.
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