Book Review: The Promise of Dawn by Lauraine Snelling

The Promise of Dawn by Lauraine Snelling is a Christian historical fiction following a family as they immigrate from Norway to a farm in Minnesota in the late 1800s.

About the Book

The Promise of Dawn (Under Northern Skies #1)

by Lauraine Snelling

Description from Goodreads: 

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?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34371854-the-promise-of-dawn

Book Review

Signe and Rune answer the request of their relatives to move to America with their three boys to help their relatives clear the lumber from their homestead. However, when they arrive, they find out that, in spite of inviting them, their uncle is hard and unwelcoming and their aunt is bitter and bedridden. Signe and her family do their best to help, make a new life there, and share God’s love to their relatives in spite of their difficult circumstances.

I really enjoyed this book. It isn’t a romance but the story of a family working hard to make a life for themselves in America. They encounter many difficulties, not the least of which is their aunt and uncle, but they keep going.

Signe is the main character, though the story is told from multiple points of view, and she has to endure the brunt of the changes. Her aunt screaming at her from the other room all the time with no gratitude for the help Signe gives and no assistance either. On top of that, Signe discovers she is pregnant. I admired her perseverance and dependence on God to keep being kind in the midst of the circumstances.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the historical detail. It seems as though the author did an excellent job at portraying what living in that time period and location as immigrants would be like.

I would very much recommend this clean, Christian, historical novel.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from ten publisher. I did not receive compensation, and all I wrote was the complete truth.