Monday, October 5, 2015

Streams of Mercy - Lauraine Snelling

Streams of Mercy
Lauraine Snelling
Bethany House Publishers, Oct 6 2015, $14.99
ISBN: 9780764211065

In 1907 accompanied by her children (Melissa, Joseph and Gilbert), Widow Anji Baard Moen visits her kind in-laws in Norway, who beg her to stay with them.  Instead Anji and her kids return to Blessing, North Dakota.  Anji balances being a supermom with teaching Norwegian history once a week to high school students and writing articles for the Blessing Gazette.

The circus comes to town by train, but proves not to be a joy when they bring diphtheria with them.  Dr. Bjorklund and Dr. Jeffers invoke strict health measures to keep the disease from turning into an epidemic.  When the paper’s publisher Thorliff becomes ill, Anji takes over running it.  Newcomer Minister Thomas Devlin provides carpentry services to the townsfolk and courts the widow; while healing Thorliff wishes he acted first.

The third Song of Blessing historical (see A Harvest Of Hope and To Everything A Season) is a tremendous early twentieth century Northern Great Plains inspirational drama that once again transports readers to a different bygone era (a trademark of Lauraine Snelling).  Life in small-town North Dakota during a terrible disease outbreak grips the audience, but it is Anji and several other caring folks who bring a personal touch to the captivating storyline; she in particular wonders what God prefers she choose between two caring men who both want her and her children in their respective lives.


Harriet Klausner

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