Customer Reviews

A Land to Call Home (Red River of the North #3)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Book 3 in Red River of the North opens with Penny writing to the absent Hjelmer who has fled the area to avoid a "shotgun wedding" trick. Even though he is young and immature, he is a hard worker with an eye for the future and inside information on the plans of the railroad. Kaaren delivers twins, nearly dying. One twin is not healthy and Lars cannot accept his deaf daughter. School is in full swing in the prairie schoolhouse, with Kaaren as teacher.

Ingeborg and Haaken travel a far distance by train to escort home the seriously injured younger sister of Kaaren. Solveig is a bitter, disappointed young woman who was on her way to join her sister, but whose future is crushed in a train wreck. Face scarred and barely walking, she goes home with Ingeborg and Haaken. Olaf, Kaaren's long lost uncle, mysteriously turns up after a long absence and his many talents make him useful and loved.

Penny has finally decided to travel to Fargo for work and further schooling. The farms continue to progress - a large wooden barn now graces the homestead of Ingeborg who gives birth to another baby, Haaken's first biological child. Metiz continues to weave in and out of the lives of the pioneer families. Her grandson, Baptiste, stays with his friend Thorliff to go to school and help with the farm work.

As much as she balks, Ingeborg gives up her plowing and hunting after teaching young Thorliff to take her place. As usual, tragedy does not pass over them without leaving scars. A tragic fire, blizzards and failing farms cause loss of life and dreams. Agnes give birth to a stillborn daugher. She harbors intensive anger toward Hjelmer for hurting her dear niece, Penny.

The railroad is coming and the time for proving up their land arrives. Both the Bjorkland widows are remarried with families. Extra people share both homes now. A large sack house stores their grain for direct loading on the train.

The book ends with their town becoming a water stop for the railroad, a real town with a real name, Blessing. In spite of the author's confusion with family relationships and forgetting Kaaren's married name, book 3 still deserves 4 stars.

Those pioneers are sooo brave! I wish I could be like them. Lauraine is an excellent author. Keep it up!

This book was just as excellant as the first two. Ingeborg Bjorklund looks back at all the labor the first four years of taming the new land have brought her. Hjelmer her brother-in-law has traveled west to work on the railroad and he only sends one letter to Penny who is waiting back home for him. Penny is trying to keep her promise but there are other eligible gentlemen waiting. The homesteaders must still trust God to get through their struggles. This was an excellant book and I highly recommend it for any reader craving a good fiction book!!!

This is the best series of books I have ever read. I got to know them all by name and felt like I was at a family reunion each time I picked one up to read. You learn a lot about what it was like homesteading, plus you adopt this wonderful family. I think about them all the time and wish Lauraine Snelling would do more on this family. You will not be disapointed if you like some history with your fiction.

The Red River of the North Series became near and dear to my heart. I simply could not wait to start the next once as soon as I finished the last one. The characters in these stories really became part of me, I felt like I knew them, I hurt when they hurt, I cried when they cried and I celebrated when they were happy. I highly recommend the entire series from beginning to end.

A Land to Call Home (Red River of the North #3)

The third book in the "Red River Of The North Series." I've read this series twice now, and still couldn't put the book down! Lauraine Snelling keeps her readers wanting more and more of the Bjorklunds's lives. I don't like to give out too many details on a book, because I would rather read the book and be surprised myself when I read them. You will find love and loss of love on the Dakota Territory prairie. There are again joyous triumphs and total sadness. Be prepared to have some time to read, because you will not want to put this book down. Lauraine Snelling has a way of padding each sentence with not your ordinary words. She paints pictures with her words, that you can see. An excellent book!

I have the whole set of Red River Of the North series I would recomend any one to read these great books

This entire series has been excellent. It really puts a prospective on what life was like for immigrants and early farmers in the northern plains area. No frills, no fancy story lines, just good reading.

I enjoyed this third book about the Bjorklunds. Although not quite as much of a page turner as some of the earlier books in the series, this one was still a wonderful "slice of life" read.

This is one of the best series that I have ever read. It is a must see but beware, once you pick it up you will not want to put it down.