Thursday, October 17, 2013

Book Review: When Comes The Spring

When Comes The Spring. Janette Oke. 1985. Bethany House. 252 pages. [Source: Library]

I really do love the first book in the series. And this second book is almost as good. It focuses on the married life of Elizabeth and Wynn, and their first year of marriage. The novel opens with Elizabeth planning her wedding. Oh, the plans she has; oh the plans her sister-in-law has! But Wynn's announcement changes things! He's received a post, in the north, he has to be there on August 1. Elizabeth's September wedding is off. But her quieter, calmer, just-family wedding is on...in just a few days! The book dwells on Elizabeth's life in the North. I liked the focus on Elizabeth having to find her own life within her husband's, of course. She will always be "his wife." But she can't spend each and every moment of the day in the two-room cabin sitting and worrying or working and cleaning. His work is unpredictable. He could be gone most of the day or most of the night. He might be gone for days at a time. He might be going into situations that are extremely dangerous. And she has to learn to be okay with that, okay with her husband's profession, okay with her loneliness too. She needs to embrace this community, this village, as her own. She needs to open her heart and her home to others, and, this means letting go of certain prejudices. This struggle to be content, to accept life just as God has willed it, is not easy. And this is something that only begins in this one. It is continued in When Breaks The Dawn, the third book in the series. These two books are so closely linked I almost wish they were just one big book!

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