A Harvest of Hope by Lauraine Snelling

.... What a community of characters.... This book literally opened a chapter into a season in the community of Blessing. Like any season, this time period is filled with love, loss, and struggle. A beloved husband, father, and community leader has just died, leaving a gaping hole in many lives. The shanty town is in desperate need of medical help and more solid building structures. The community owned and supported bank is mysteriusly running low on funds. Tensions are thick after a recent robbery and the subsequent adoption of one of the thieve's youngest brothers. A natural disaster strikes. Women struggle through risky pregnancies, and the hospital is straining to train up a team of proper medical staff.

Throughout this story, we are drawn into the individual lives of the people of Blessing and are taken by the hand and led down the streets and into the homes of Blessing. A Harvest of Hope is a meandering novel that takes its time traveling through the story and really develops its host of characters.

By the end of the book, I felt as if I knew the key players of Blessing well. I did struggled a little with the slower pace of this book. However, it was well written like all of Lauraine Snelling's works and it is a good addition to the Mennonite/Amish genre.

Back Cover: Miriam Hastings has her future plans in place... But Trygve Knutson is intent on changing them.

Just a few short weeks into her year-long training at the Blessing Hospital, Miriam Hastings is called home to Chicago, where her mother is gravely ill. With siblings to care for, Miriam pleads to be allowed to finish her training in Chicago. Her nursing supervisor grants her a brief reprieve but extracts a promise that Miriam will return to Blessing and fulfill her one-year commitment.

While in Chicago, Miriam has tried to get Trygve Knutson and Blessing out of her mind, but his letters make that impossible. Trygve is busy building a house, hoping he can convince Miriam will return to North Dakota and marry him. Torn between Trygve's love and her family's needs, she doesn't know what to do.

When Miriam finally returns to Blessing, she buries herself in her work. But no matter how hard she tries to put it off, she has some life-changing decisions to make about her future, her family... and the man who is never far from her thoughts.

What will it take to convince her to stay?

 

 

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group"