Showing results by author "Lauraine Snelling" in All Categories

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.

Best-selling author Lauraine Snelling crafts tales of forgiveness and love that listeners adore. This volume combines the first three novels in Snelling's inspiring Dakota series, which follows the intertwining lives of five women living in the early 1900s farming community of Soldahl, North Dakota. All arrive expecting a life different than the one that awaits them, but plenty of perseverance - and opening their hearts to God - will shine a guiding light toward true happiness.

Seeking to fulfill the promise she made to her dying father, 18-year-old Jesselynn Highwood determines to take her little brother and the family's remaining thoroughbreds from the Twin Oaks plantation in Kentucky to her uncle's farm in Missouri, where they will be safe for the remainder of the Civil War.

Award-winning author Lauraine Snelling delivers her first installment of the Dakotah Treasures series. Ruby, a Crossings Book Club Main Selection, is the story of a young woman who must leave behind the life she has grown accustomed to in order to start a new life in the bleak Dakota Territory.

Ellie Wold can't wait to graduate from high school. She and Andrew Bjorklund have been waiting to get married since...well, since forever, and in June they will finally wed. When Andrew announces they have to postpone the wedding, she's disappointed but takes it in stride--there must be a good reason, or Andrew's pa wouldn't ask it of them.

The Minnesota frontier is nothing like Nilda Carlson imagined. After a terrifying experience in a lumber camp, she finds a safe job helping a young widow. When she meets Fritz, she is initially uninterested in his overtures. But as he begins to win her over, would loving him mean abandoning her goals - or simply exchanging one dream for a different one?  

Trygve Knutson has been promoted from well drilling to heading a construction crew for the fast growing town of Blessing, North Dakota. Though devoted to the land and his family, he sometimes dreams of other horizons. But is he willing to leave Blessing permanently? Miriam Francini hopes to become an accredited nurse in a large city hospital. She is simply tolerating her assignment at the hospital in rural Blessing because it will give her the experience she needs to accomplish her goal.

The dream of their own farmstead and a good life in America had brought Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund across the Atlantic to pioneer the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. But Roald's tragic disappearance in a winter storm turned Ingeborg's dreams into a living nightmare. Against nearly impossible circumstances and overwhelming grief, she struggles to keep the farm and her family together.

After three long years of scrimping and saving to buy tickets for their passage to America, Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund, along with their son, Thorliff, finally arrive at the docks of New York City. It was the promise of free land that fed their dream and lured them from their beloved home high above the fjords of Norway in 1880. As they join the throngs of countless immigrants passing through Castle Garden, the Bjorklunds soon discover that nothing is as they had envisioned it.

Anji Baard Moen, a recent widow, returns from Norway with her children. She quickly settles back into life in Blessing, teaching Norwegian history in the high school and writing articles for the Blessing Gazette. When tragedy strikes, Anji steps in to run the newspaper and soon finds a kindred spirit in the widower who owns the printing press. As they spend time together, Anji wonders if there's something more than friendship growing between them.

Just a few short weeks into her yearlong nurse training assignment at the Blessing Hospital, Miriam Antonio 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 soon return to Blessing and fulfill her commitment. While in Chicago Miriam has tried to get Trygve Knutson and Blessing out of her mind, but his letters make that impossible.

After two long years, hardworking dairy farmer Andrew Bjorklund is thrilled to see his fiancée, Ellie Wold, again. But when materials to build their new home are delayed, Andrew grudgingly postpones the wedding. Soon a tragedy threatens their future and forces them to fully rely on God. Lauraine Snelling, an award-winning author of over 50 inspiring books, set this compelling novel in Blessing, North Dakota, circa 1900.

A preeminent figure in faith-based fiction, Lauraine Snelling has over two million copies of her works in print. In Whispers in the Wind, the second installment of Snelling’s Wild West Wind series, Cassie Lockwood is dismayed to discover her father’s South Dakota valley land is already occupied. Meanwhile, Cassie’s arrival spurs the revelation of long-hidden secrets among the locals and leaves her questioning whether or not she will ever find a place to call home.

On the ship to America, Norwegian immigrant Amalia Gunderson makes a solemn promise to a dying mother, vowing to watch over her five-year-old daughter, Ruth. Together, Amalia and Ruth trek to Iowa to claim the farm and former boardinghouse that Ruth has inherited, despite opposition from a difficult cousin. Struggling with an empty house and scarce resources, Amalia resolves to return the boardinghouse to its former purpose, aided by the kindness of strangers and the resilient spirit of her young charge.

Award-winning historical novelist Lauraine Snelling delivers a compelling sequel to A Promise for Ellie. When 17-year-old Sophie abandons her North Dakota family in 1901, she never dreams tragedy will turn her again toward home. But she fears the loved ones she hurt will reject her - and that she'll never love again.

Larkspur Nielsen is determined to keep her family homestead running and to fulfill their dream of starting a seed catalog, with or without her siblings’ help. With Isaac McTavish back in town, Lark finds herself at odds with her own heart and her determination to shoulder the burden of carrying her responsibilities alone. But Isaac is set on convincing her that he’s here to stay and she doesn’t have to carry everything by herself.

Larkspur Nielsen is ready for a change. Her parents have passed on, and her older brother is successfully running the family business. She bristles at the small-mindedness that permeates life in her small Ohio community, and she sees little chance of a satisfying future there. She has a little money saved, and after turning the tables on a crooked gambler who had fleeced several locals, including her younger brother, she can stake a new start for herself and her three sisters. 

It had taken four long, difficult years to tame the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. Looking back through all the heartache and the body-breaking labor, Ingeborg Bjorklund knew that God had been with them every step of the way. Dreams that had turned into veritable nightmares had been reshaped with the promise of a new day rising, and her marriage to Haaken had been its sure sign.

The rich farmlands of the Dakota Territory in 1887 are finally beginning to yield the abundant harvest the pioneers had dreamed about so long. The establishment of the railroad has brought significant changes to the small town of Blessing as well as prosperity to the Bjorklund family and their neighbors. Among the townsfolk is reverend John Solberg. The reverend, rejecting the persistent efforts of matchmaking mothers, develops a friendship with Mary Martha through their common love of books.

Ever so slowly, Dakota Territory is being transformed from a vast prairie into rich farmland. With the coming of the railroad, the small town of Blessing begins to prosper, and the Bjorklund family is reaping the promised harvest that had lured them from their beloved home in Norway. But for Ingeborg and Haakan, realizing their dreams will not come without a struggle.