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In this heartfelt, pastoral novel, readers meet Penny, a young woman to whom life has handed many hardships. As she struggles through family ordeals and poverty, she bustles from job to job until finding a modest place in the house of a respected doctor. In a society where marriage and social standing matter and determine a woman's everything, Penny falls in love with Will, an adventurous young man who promises to wed her. However, the lure and romanticism of the Canadian wilds call to Will, as does the haunting promise of fortune. Readers follow Penny's struggles through an uncertain relationship, an elevation in social status, and a barrage of life-changing transitions that take her from housekeeper to doctor's aide, wife to mother, maid to respected heroine.
In this book, readers find a rags-to-riches tale of adventurous proportions. They will quickly sympathize with Penny and the plights she faces as a worker, wife, and mother. The novel's historical elements, such as the influx of British men venturing to Canada to seek their fortunes, wax reminiscent of Edward Beauclerk Maurice's The Last Gentleman Adventurer: Coming of Age in the Arctic. The novel's unlikely heroine inspires readers with her tour-de-force perseverance and her relentless spirit to never settle for anything less than what she perceives as best for her. As modern society also continues to elevate and promote women, the novel's discussion of a woman's perseverance in a patriarchal one makes the book even more relevant. This is a great read for historical fiction lovers and readers in need of a conquer-all heroine.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review