Hope in the Land

If this book were a television show, it would be a drama on the order of Little House on the Prairie, just a bit more grown up. Olivia Newport has a way of spinning a story that keeps the readers engaged and involved. Hope in the Land takes the reader back to the Great Depression where the Amish may have just been the wealthiest people in the nation because of all they could do for themselves.

Gloria and Marlin have a housefull of children--but the boys have married and moved to their own homes on the farm, leaving only the five girls at home. Minerva and Ernie have just one child still at home. These two couples are next door neighbors, but Gloria and Minerva have a history of competition going back to early primary school, even though Gloria wanted nothing to do with competing.

Polly is in love with Thomas, but he seems more interested in her sister, Lena. Henry is an agent from a WPA program doing research on family farms and how they are managing to get through the Depression. Rose is Minerva and Ernie's daughter, but she's also intrigued by Henry, interested in farming, wants to learn more of the homemaking arts that her mother hasn't taught her.

Minerva's favorite thing to do is spend money, and Ernie finds out that Minerva has spent their reserve money on frivolous things and makes her take them back or sell them or somehow get the money out of them so they won't lose the farm.

This all seems disjointed, but they are all subplots to the main plot of the book, and they all make the book the readable tome that it is. Five Stars, Two Thumbs Up, and some self-sufficiency in your life.

My thanks to Barbour Books for allowing me to read and review this book.