Showing results by author "Lauraine Snelling" in All Categories

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Nielsen sisters have accomplished much in the past year, traveling west and settling in Nebraska. They are on their way to rebuilding their mother's garden, and their excitement only grows when they receive a letter from their brother Anders saying he's coming to visit with a friend from the war. However, none of that can mask their concern that they are quickly running out of money. Del's work teaching in town offers hope, not only to support her sisters but also to better her students' lives. Not all see it that way, though. An invasion of grasshoppers only makes things worse.

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.

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?

National best-selling author Lauraine Snelling brings a small mountain town to thrilling life when a natural disaster threatens to destroy lives. US Border Patrol agent Ben James' life is in tatters. A tragic accident stole the love of his life and he never finished grieving. Turning to the bottle for support, he lost sight of what was important. While making his last patrol run before a storm rolls in, Ben's canine partner Bo finds an abandoned baby hidden in the woods. As Ben rushes the child to the only clinic in the area, the storm strikes with unexpected fury.

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.

Beloved, best-selling author Lauraine Snelling weaves a story of holiday romance, which begins with a simple advertisement for a horse's companion. Turner McNeally's daughter has gone off to college, and her horse is demonstrating signs of loneliness. Rebecca Wilkinson's son hasn't spoken a word since his father's death, and the family counselor suggests a pet. What will Christmas bring these troubled hearts? And what is this gift from God that Turner McNeally keeps talking about?

When Amethyst O'Shaunasy reluctantly travels west to find her nephew, her faith is restored by a group of pioneers and their reliance on God's guidance. Now, with prayers in her heart and a growing interest in a handsome rancher, Amethyst has no wish to leave.

Dinah Taylor has an orderly life that is just how she likes it. A perfectly furnished luxury apartment, a satisfying career as a scientist and CEO of her own company, and an uncomplicated personal life. But all of that changes when she meets seven-year-old Jonah. The boy shows up one day, a scruffy dog by his side, in front of her office building. Dinah knows nothing about kids and even less about animals, but after she buys him breakfast, he shows up the next day...and the next. She tries to learn more about him, to help him, but he's remarkably skilled at evading her questions.

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.

Eighteen-year-old Ingeborg Strand is certain she is destined to be an old maid. She's had several suitors but none she deemed worthy of spending her life with. That is, until she meets a university student from Oslo, and feelings stronger than friendship begin to develop between them. But tragedy strikes, and the future begins to look bleaker than ever. Grief settles heavily over Ingeborg, and her mother suggests that she leave Norway and start afresh in America, as so many others have done before her.

It is 1893, and the first generation of immigrants who came to America for the promise of free land and a good life for their children have finally achieved their dreams. They labored hard on the land and now have a bountiful heritage to pass on to the next generation. However, many of the young people aren't interested in becoming farmers - they have aspirations of their own. Thorliff Bjorklund has been writing stories and plays since he was a young boy and longs to attend college to study journalism. But his father has other plans for him and refuses to agree.

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.

After a local mountain becomes a deadly and imminent threat, three strikingly different women become linked in a desperate mission. Children's author Katherine Sommers is searching for her depressed husband, David, and their son Brian, camping together on Mt. St. Helens' tumultuous north slope. Mellie Sedor seeks her husband, Daniel, who has taken a logging job to pay for their daughter's chemotherapy. Fashion photographer Jen Stockton joins Cowlitz County Sheriff Frank McKenzie, himself the victim of a brutal loss, in his quest to evacuate the awakening volcano.

Broken by life's disappointments, four women forge a friendship that leads in unexpected directions.

Assuming the Lord wants her to practice medicine in a remote African outpost, Astrid Bjorklund enrolls in a missionary training school. She prays her former sweetheart will one day understand. But when a family crisis calls her home, Astrid hears of a deadly measles outbreak on a nearby Indian reservation. Feeling inexplicably constrained to help, she wonders if God might be leading her to a “mission field” that’s much closer than she imagined.

Thorliff's dream of becoming a writer is within reach. Working for a newspaper in Northfield, Minnesota, he is busy writing articles and stories to pay his way through college. But his idyllic world comes to a sudden halt when a catastrophe hits the town of Blessing, North Dakota. While waiting to hear if any of her applications to medical schools are accepted, Elizabeth takes a nursing position in Chicago. Then a devastating experience on the hospital ward puts her faith in God and her very life on the line.