Until We Reach Home by Lynn Austin

I didn't mean for this to happen. I truly didn't. I just picked this one up to kind of browse through its pages, and before I knew it...

...it was 2 AM!

What a wonderful story Lynn Austin has created! "Until We Reach Home" chronicles the lives of three sisters from Sweden: Elin, Kirsten and Sofia. Their struggles to find a life in America are the bulk of the tale, but we find so much more.

We find the damage that hiding secrets can bring. Elin bears the worst secret of all, but all three sisters have things they hide from one another. Will they ever trust in one another enough to share their burdens, or will they forever carry these heavy loads themselves?

Trust is also a major theme in this story. The girls trusted their father to care for them when their mother died: he failed. They trusted their brother to step in when their father didn't care for them as he should: again, failure...and when the girls are taken in by Uncle Sven and his family...can things keep going from bad to worse?

Faith in Christ, in the God of the Bible is hard for each of the Carlson girls to come by, each for different reasons. As Sophia's heart begins to soften first, can she, the youngest of the three, teach her sisters to have faith in God again, and to turn their secrets over to Him?

Lynn Austin writes in such an authentic voice and with rich detail. I honestly just meant to skim this one, but ended up being devoured by it. The sights, the sounds...watching the struggle just to GET to this amazing country through the eyes of three young, terrified and lonely Swedish girls...

What a story this is! And it's a HISTORICAL--go figure! I'm rating "Until We Reach Home" five out of five bookmarks, with a faded apron as a charm. I challenge you to peek at Lynn's website and subscribe to her "Behind the Scenes" newsletter.

Her writing is so rich, she may have just made me a historical fan....now THAT would be something, wouldn't it??

Happy Reading!