Janette Oke
Love Comes Softly (1979)
Author: Janette Oke
Genre: Gentle (Christian)/Western
Plot Summary:
Marty has just moved out to the West with her husband Clem, who dies soon. After funeral, with no other options, she accepts the arrangement offered by widower Clark Davis, who offers her a place to stay for the winter and provides her with the protection and home she needs until the next wagon train going East comes in the spring. Instead, she cares for his young daughter, Missie. It may be called a marriage of convenience. Marty, while expecting her late husband's baby, is even more in need of a warm place to stay. At first, Marty and Missie do not get along. But as time goes by, Marty learns more about "Clark's God" than she ever dreamed, and as the winter season passes, they all start to feel more like a family.
Geographical Setting: American West
Time Period: Nineteenth century
Series: Love Comes Softly series, Book 1
Appeal Characteristics:
Janette Oke portrays heartwarming and family-centered home drama in this book. With a light tone, happenings are mainly in the home between family members and close neighbors, showing a little bit old fashioned life style and stressing traditional family value and faith in God. Like other protagonists in Oke¡¯s books, Marty is a mostly strong-minded young woman, with whom readers can easily sympathize and whose dilemmas are universally understood. The plot is quite simple, and there is no conflicts and violence in the story with a western rural setting. The storyline is character-centered, and most of the descriptions deal with main characters¡¯ development in moral and religious aspects. This novel is fairly short and gentle read with slow and leisurely- paced storyline, focusing on domestic pleasures such as decorating home,
cleaning, preparing meal, and sewing. The story shows the hope for the future and enduring harsh reality, relying on God and tied family relationship, which leads to a predictable and hopeful ending.
Read-alikes: Readers who like Oke's style should try the other books in this series or, perhaps some of her other series like the Canadian West series (the first book is When Calls the Heart) and the Women of the West series (the first book is The Calling of Emily Evans). Santa Fe Woman by Gilbert Morris is recommended for the readers who liked Oke's story. Both books have a lot in common. In this book, "Daddy's girl" Jori has always lived amid affluence. But when her father's fortune fails in the economic depression of the 1800s, she's forced to grow up---and go west! Guided by a former prisoner, she begins a dangerous journey and discovers that romance, faith, and family are the greatest "riches" of all. Faith by Lori Copeland is another book similar to Oke's Love Comes Softly. When their pastor's father dies suddenly leaving little money, three sisters realize that they need to take drastic action to survive. Each answers a newspaper ad soliciting Christian brides. Faith goes to Texas, where her intended, a well-to-do rancher named Nicholas Shepherd, seems to be having second thoughts. While her wedding is repeatedly postponed, Faith meets a local widower and decides to teach his blind son Braille. In time, Nicholas begins to realize that he may have lost Faith to another man. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, is also a story of love, nurturing, understanding and of course, redemption. Sold into prostitution in childhood, Angel is a bitter woman who trusts no man. But when God tells Michael Hosea to marry her, she learns to love---until fear overwhelms her and she contemplates a return to her former life. Catherine Palmer's Prairie Rose, about an orphaned young woman who finds love on the Kansas prairie, will appeal to readers attracted to Oke's rural Western settings. This book's gently moralistic, emotionally intense storyline portrays romantic couples who grow together as they get in closer touch with their religious beliefs. When the Soul Mends by Cindy Woodsmall is the third book in the Sisters of the Quilt series. After Hannah Lapp reluctantly returns to the Old Order Amish community she fled in disgrace, she works together with former fiance Paul Waddell for her sister Sarah's mental health. She finds out hidden truths, and faces with choosing between the two men she loves, and between the two different worlds they've embraced. Like Oke's story, this book tells a heartwarming tale of love and faith. This novel offer authentic characters and a page-turning plot in an Amish setting. The author illustrates in this story how wounded souls can finally be mended through forgiveness and redemption.
Those who wish for a similar storyline and an emphasis on characters can try June Masters Bacher's Love is A Gentle Stranger, Book 1 of her Pioneer Romance Series. Ruth Glover's The Shining Light (Book 1 of her Wildrose Series) will also offer a similar tone and storyline, and focus on the characters. Catherine Marshall's Christy tells a deeply-engaging story of a slightly different historical setting, but that nonetheless emphasizes Christianity and traditional morals, as well as unique characters that drive the story. Tracey Bateman's Kansas Home presents a character-driven story set in the American West, and Lauraine Snelling's Opal (Book 1 of her Dakota Treasures Series offers a similar historical setting and a family-centered storyline.
Red Flags: Persistent use of country-bumpkin language
Love's Long Journey (1982)
Author: Janette Oke
Genre: Romance (Prairie)/Christian
Plot Summary:
The novel opens with married couple, Willie and Missie, starting to go west with a covered-wagon train. Willie and Missie plan on traveling with the wagon train for the majority of their trip west and then they plan to follow a supply train to the land that Willie has bought for them to build a home on. Soon after they start the journey west, the reader finds out that Missie is pregnant and Willie hasn't been told about it. During their trip they have to deal with a ranging river, lots of rainfall, a few deaths, and much more. SPOILER: When Willie finds out that Missie is pregnant, he decides that Missie will stay in the town where the wagon train will stop until she gives birth to their child. Once Willie got Missie a place to stay and be taken care of, he left her alone and followed a supply train to their land. Once Missie gave birth to their son, Nathan, Willie came for her and their baby and brought them home to the land that they owned. When they arrived at their land, Missie was not impressed with what her husband had accomplished but over time they build a nice home and community for themselves. Later on in the novel, their son gets sick with croup but he ends up being fine. Throughout the story, they experience many hardships but they always get through with the help of God and their friends and family.
Geographical Setting: The American West
Time Period: During the 19th century
Series: The Love Comes Softly Series (Book 3)
Appeal Characteristics:
Winner of the Christy award, Love's Long Journey is filled with strong characters that face their hardships through their faith in God. When Missie's friend dies in childbirth or when she faces lonliness as her husband leaves her behind to prepare their house, it is her realization that God is there to help her be strong that keeps her going. The secondary characters also are well thought out. Rebecca, a young woman ready to give birth, is not in the story for very long but we understand her fear of having a child in the wilderness.The pace of the story is gentle but never slow. There is lots of action throughout from the dangers of a trip west to cattle rustlers on their new ranch. The tone is uplifting. Even with the many hardships the characters face everything with a possitive attitude. When the ranch has a setback Missie willingly agrees to live in the sod house an extra year to save money for more cattle. The hot, sunny days and open prairie also physically give the story a light feel. The setting throughout the west gives an interesting insight into life on a wagon train, a small prairie town and a homesteaders life. The writing style is pleasant with friendly characters, no big surprises and a calm overall feel of characters who can meet all of their challenges with God's help.
Read-alikes: For another story of a young family heading west try Julia's Hope, the first book in the Wortham Family series by Leisha Kelly. Samuel, Julia and their two young children hitchhike west during the Great Depression in search of work. They find a deserted farmhouse whos elderly owner wishes to return home to but needs their help. The descriptive writing style is similar to Okes in bringing out the details of traveling west with little money. It is also a character driven story with Julia and her family being well developed so that you share their feelings and fears about setting out with two small children. Prairie Rose, the first book in the Town Called Hope series by Catherine Palmer, is another character driven story where Rosie, a 19 year old orphan, saves the life of a homesteader and then goes west with him and his son as their housekeeper. Her Bible reading teaches her that she is worthy of love even though she is illegitimate. Like Missie, Rosie faces her problems through faith and prayer. The storyline is also similar to Love's Long Journey in showing the hardships of travel west in the 1800's. The pace is also gentle with her travel adventures and worries of unworthiness interspersed with her thoughts and prayers. In All Together in One Place, book one in the Kinship and Courage trilogy by Jane Kirkpatrick, readers will find a gentle paced story about Mazy who reluctantly follows her husband along the Oregon Trail after he sold their Wisconsin farm. Her peace finally comes when she puts her future in God's hands. Kirkpatrick's characters show real feeling and Mazy is upset and angry at having to leave her farm. Again, the setting of travel west mirrors Love's Long Journey. Another similar prairie story is A Land to Call Home, book 3 in the Red River of the North series by Lauraine Snelling. This story continues the saga of the Bjorkland family who settled in the Dakotas in the 1880's. Here the pace is gentle and even though life is hard their strong faith in God keeps them believing that life will improve. The prairie setting with its pioneer homesteads is also similar to Love's Long Journey. To learn more about Missie's family try Love Comes Softly, the first book in the Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oke. Here we meet Missie as a young child, her father and her soon-to-be new mother as they meet and continue traveling west to start a new life. The storyline is similar with both books showing the hardships of travel and how God gives them strength. Both books also are very character driven with much detail given to their thoughts and feelings.The gentle pace, light tone shown through their spirit and landscapes and descriptive writting style are evident in both books. If you like books about prairie romances, I suggest A Place Called Bliss, which is included in the Saskatchewan Saga, by Ruth Glover. The book is about two very different women who wish for a life in Canada and try to make it happen, no matter what problems they come across. If you like Christian novels about faith and western expansion, I suggest A New Day Rising by Lauraine Snelling. The novel is about a widow, Ingeborg Bjorklund, who tries to survive in 1883 with the help of her husband's cousin. Finally, if you enjoy novels about trials and tests of faith, I suggest Waiting for Morning, Volume One by Karen Kingsbury. The novel is about a woman who deals with the tragedy of her husband and her children being killed by a drunk driver by following her faith and learning to forgive.
Red Flags: The novel includes a lot of old-fashioned language and ideas and there is a fair amount of conversation about God.
When Calls the Heart (1983)
Author: Janette Oke
Genre: Romance/Christian
Plot Summary:
Elizabeth Thatcher is a cultured, strong-willed woman from the East who moves west to live with her brother's family and teach school children. When she arrives, you turns down a marriage offer from her overly-forward School Superintendent, and finds herself banished to teach children 150 miles to the north of her family. Determined to hold her own, she moves north and discovers a town that has never seen a formal school teacher, and must go back to the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. But then she meets Wynn, a Royal Canadian Mountie who has determined never to let a woman he loves to share the difficulties of his life and duty. SPOILER: After being rejected, Elizabeth decides to move back East, but is stopped at the train station at the last minute by Wynn, who proposes to her.
Geographical Setting:Canadian prairie
Time Period: Early 20th century
Series: Canadian West Series (Book 1)
Appeal Characteristics:
When Calls the Heart will appeal to readers who like stories about love, hope, family life, and Canadian Mounties. It's an emotional, character-driven story with a warm, nostalgic tone, evocative of the good ol' days. It's about a strong-willed woman and her everyday struggles, and ends on an upbeat note.
Read-alikes:
If you enjoyed Janette Oke's When Calls the Heart, you may also enjoy her classic Love Comes Softly. Set in the late 19th century prairie, widow Marty Claridge enters into a marriage of convenience, and gradually learns to love her new husband. Readers who enjoy Oke's prairie settings and character-driven stories about strong women may enjoy Prairie Rose by Catherine Palmer. This emotionally intense book tells the story of an orphaned women who finds love in Kansas. If you like Oke's portrayal of a simpler, old-fashioned family life, try Leisha Kelly's Julia's Hope, the first book in her Wortham Family series. Set in rural Illinois during the Great Depression, it follows the domestic trials of the Wortham family. If you would like a heartwarming historical romance set across the pond, try Donna Fletcher Crow's Encounter the Light. A Crimean War veteran and a military nurse return to London to help the impoverished, and grow close to each other in their faith. Readers who don't mind something a bit harsher may like Tracie Peterson's Land of My Heart, first n the Heirs of Montana series. A strongly religious prairie romance, this story tells of the arduous journey of a woman moving out west to live on her uncle's ranch.
Red Flags: Though handled delicately, this book contains the off-page death of a
young child through illness.
|top|
|
