Lauraine Snelling

Nilda Carlson and her younger brother Ivar come to America to join her older brother Rune and his family on the Strand farm in Minnesota. Uncle Einar Strand refuses to help Rune build a house for his family and forbids the community to come onto his land. Can the tragedy that reveals Einar's anger and isolation bring the Carlsons and Strands together into a true family?

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...

"Though she has known hardships in her life, Ingeborg Bjorklund chooses to focus on all she has been given. Blessed with children and grandchildren, she enjoys the friendship and support of the entire Blessing, North Dakota, community. And after several years of widowhood, she has reached a place of contentment with her life .Meanwhile, her stepson Thorliff is raising two children alone since his beloved Elizabeth died. But there is a new schoolteacher...

The sprawling lake home Lynn Lundberg built with her husband has been an epicenter of joyful family life. But since her husband's sudden passing two years ago, Lynn has been lost in the grief and solitude she feels without him at home. She doesn't want to sell the big family place, but she can't exist there on her own much longer. After hearing of a new way of living--where single women share responsibilities as housemates--Lynn thinks she's found...

The Bjorklund family is waiting for Augusta to come from Norway. When the train arrives in Blessing her trunk is thre but she is not. Augusta does not understand English and misunderstood directions in St. Paul so she boards the wrong train. She is met at the end of the line by Kane Moyer, who is waiting for his Norwegian mail-order bride.

When Jesselynn Highwood discovers that her destination in Missouri has been ravaged, she sets out on the Oregon Trail, while her "sister Louisa has taken on the daunting task of smuggling desperately needed supplies for the hospital in Richmond."--Cover.

Thorliff Bjorklund has been writing since he was a young boy and now longs to study journalism. But his father has other plans for him and refuses to agree. Loving and respecting his parents, Thorliff dreads going against his father's wishes and cannot imagine any honorable way to leave home. To make matters worse, the threat of a crop failure may mean there'll be no money for college anyway. Thorliff is torn between love for his father and the pull...

A heartfelt story of a couple who put their plans for a peaceful retirement on hold to assume guardianship of their young grandchildren.

After years of not being willing to commit to Deborah MacCallister, Toby Valders watches as sparks fly between her and the new schoolteacher Anton Gendarme, leaving Toby to wonder whether it is too late to win her over.

Minnesota, 1911. Nilda Carlson is torn between life in the city of Blackduck and spending time with her family back home on the farm. Her employer, Mrs. Schoenleber, gives her more and more responsibility and experience. Still new to America herself, Nilda focuses on the area's immigrant community, but she'll have to fight to get her ideas accepted by the locals and donors alike. One of her greatest joys is her weekly piano lesson with Fritz Larsson....