Reapers' Song

But for Ingeborg and Haakan, realizing their dreams will not come without a struggle. After their own fields are harvested, Haakan and the neighboring men take the steam engine and the separator on the road, threshing for other homesteaders in return for a portion of their grain. With Haakan away and the fields standing idle, Ingeborg frets over work yet to be done. Fearing an early change of seasons, she takes matters into her own hands.

Has the land become more important to Ingeborg than her own family?

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. After their own fields are harvested, Haakan and the neighboring men take the steam engine and the separator on the road, threshing for other homesteaders in return for a portion of their grain. With Haakan away and the fields standing idle, Ingeborg frets over work yet to be done. Fearing an early change of seasons, she takes matters into her own hands.

Has the land become more important to Ingeborg than her own family?

Library Journal

Snelling (A Land To Call Home, LJ 6/1/97) begins with the compelling story of Zeb MacCallister, who flees Missouri for the West after accidentally murdering a neighbor. Reluctantly teaming up with two malnourished orphan girls, Zeb eventually lands in Blessing, Dakota Territory. Unfortunately, the core of the book focuses on the trials and tribulations of the Bjorklund family, who are not half as interesting as Zeb and the girls. By the time Zeb and his two companions, especially the sulky and bad-tempered Manda, arrive in Blessing to give the Bjorklund family yet more problems to test their faith, readers may be wondering why a whole book was not devoted to such well-rounded and amusing characters. Still, readers who enjoyed the first three books in this series about immigrants settling the West will certainly want to read this one.

LAURAINE SNELLING is an award-winning author of fifty-plus books, including her beloved series Dakotah Treasures and Red River of the North. She also writes for a wide range of magazines and teaches at writers' conferences across the country. She and her husband make their home in Tehachapi, California.