This last book chronicles the lives of three women who bind themselves together in friendship as they brave the western frontier of Saskatchewan as mail order brides. Each is seeking an escape of one kind or another and they are all on a journey towards a new life, a new love, and a relationship with God. Each woman has strengths and weaknesses which make for different reactions to different situations, thus steering their futures to different conclusions. Just when it appears they are in a situation that will be exceedingly dangerous or tiresome, God reveals that He has had them in the palm of His hand all along.
I believe I enjoyed this book the most out of all three. The motivations for the three girls to leave their homeland are each worthy and well-described. The way in which they bond themselves to one another depicts an unity of friendship that almost every woman yearns for in dreams or reality. It depicts a fierceness, loyalty, support and love between them all.
I found the plot to be somewhat predictable, particularly the ending. Although I had predicted the outcome to come a few pages earlier, looking back at it, I realize the author had several story lines to tie up neatly. Perhaps it is the predictability and the knowledge of what is to come that renders the reader’s heart to quicken as the ultimate resolution is reached. Without that it would have been an “oh puleeze!” ending. There is no denouement, nor is one at all required.
I found that it required some suspension of disbelief, but by the time you’ve read the previous 2 books, you can easily give that to this one. It seemed to me that far too many descriptions were given to the bareness of the prairie than to the beauty of it or the bush country. Being a prairie girl myself, I am more aware of the beauty of the prairie than I am of the aching bareness and disquieting solitude some find in it. I was saddened to feel the prairie depicted so hauntingly by one of the main characters. I wanted to cry out “No! Wait! You’ve got it all wrong! Look at this….” However, one cannot discount the experiences of another – even that of a character in a book.
Again, I would recommend this series to any lover of historical fiction, particularly pioneer era writing. I would not hesitate to read another of Ruth Glover’s books.


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