Lauraine Snelling

When a natural disaster threatens to destroy lives in the small mountain town of Pineville, Minnesota, Doctor Esther Hanson struggles to help her patients without giving in to overwhelming emotions triggered by a long-suppressed memory and U.S. Border Patrol agent Ben James, grieving the tragic loss of his wife, rushes an abandoned baby to Esther's clinic. Brought together by the life of a child, Ben and Esther become each other's reason to change....

"In 1910 Minnesota, Nilda Carlson's dreams are coming true. Though her first few months in America were difficult, her life now resembles the images that filled her daydreams in Norway. She and her younger brother Ivar live in their own house, just a short distance from her older brother and his family. Together they work the farm and fell trees for lumber. They plan to grow a dairy herd, weave rugs out of their own wool, and make skis to sell. Everything...

Is She Really Leaving Forever? Tracing the difficulties and joys of carving out a life from the Dakota sod in the second half of the 800s, Tender Mercies continues Snelling's Red River saga and will pull your heartstrings and make you feel the joys and frustrations of life on the open lands of the 9th century mid-west. The rich farmlands of the Dakota Territory in 1887 are finally beginning to yield the abundant harvest the pioneers had dreamed about...

It is 1893 and the first generation of immigrants who came to America for the promise of free land and a good life for their children have finally achieved their dreams. They labored hard on the land and now have a bountiful heritage to pass on to the next generation. However, many of the young people aren't interested in becoming farmers--they have aspirations of their own. Thorliff Bjorklund has been writing stories and plays since he was a young...

The dream of their own farmstead and a good life in America had brought Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund across the Alantic to pioneer the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. But Roald's tragic disappearance in a winter storm had turned Ingeborg's dreams into a living nightmare. Against nearly impossible circumstance and overwhelming grief, she struggles to keep the farm and her family together. When spring appears, Raold's distant cousin, Haakan arrives...

Jesselynn Highwood is traveling on the Oregon trail while back East her sister Louisa and brother Zachary are captured by Union soldiers.

"Lilac Nielsen must learn to balance her new courtship with the young reverend and her pursuit of another dream-the publication of her artwork in a New York newspaper. But when a family crisis back in Ohio shakes the Nielsen sisters, can they continue the new life they've begun in Nebraska? And will Lilac be prepared for what God has in store for her future?"-- Lilac Nielsen's dream has come true: Reverend Ethan Pritchard has finally noticed her....

"In 1910, Signe, her husband, and their boys emigrate from Norway to Minnesota, dreaming of one day owning a farm of their own. But the relatives they've come to stay with are harsh and demanding. As Signe's family is worked to the bone to repay the cost of their voyage, can she learn to trust God through this trial and hold on to hope for a better future?"--

Blessing, North Dakota, 1907. Anji Baard Moen, a recent widow, travels from Norway with her children and quickly settles back into life in Blessing, teaching Norwegian history in the high school and writing articles for the Blessing Gazette. When tragedy strikes, Anji steps in to run the newspaper and soon finds a kindred spirit in Thorliff, the widower who owns the printing press. As they spend time together, Anji wonders if there is something more...

In the first decade of the twentieth century, "Miriam is in Blessing [N.D.] to get practical training to become an accredited nurse. She's been promised a position in the Chicago women's hospital that will enable her to support her siblings and her ailing mother. Although eager to return to her family, Miriam is surprised to find how much she enjoys the small town of Blessing. And her growing attachment to Trygve soon has her questioning a future...