Book Review: Wild Prairie Roses

Written by Lena Nelson Dooley, Lisa Harris, and Laurie Alice Eakes 
Reviewed by Marty Norman 

What a joy and delight to review “Wild Prairie Roses” a trilogy written by three separate authors.  Each story revolves around women of the western prairie, who find true worth through an encounter with the risen Christ.

Separate tales of three couples who arrive in Iowa searching for a stolen cache of gold, they have one thing in common.  While seeking the world’s riches, they find a treasure greater than gold, the living Christ.

Browning City, Iowa is the setting of this delightful trilogy. Over a ten year period, three women of strength and fortitude, find themselves led by a benevolent God and a keen sense of adventure, to this small western community for different reasons. In 1867, Constance Miller, whose desire to fulfill a deathbed promise to her father, is the first to arrive. Tara Young, challenged by a favorite aunt’s diary and a desire to make a difference in the world, leaves the comforts of Boston in 1870 to travel by stagecoach to serve as companion to Thaddeus and Ginny Carpenter. And Lily Reese who lost her father, brother, and family farm in a flu epidemic, arrives in this small town, penniless but bound and determined to survive in the business world.

Roses of great worth, these women are like the prairie rose, a wildflower that brings a “sample of summer’s colorful offerings” to the plains. These three find themselves transplanted from homes they have known and loved into a lifestyle which integrates and embraces them fully. Each learns how to face their fears and trust God in the midst of difficult circumstances.

At the same time the leading male characters, Hans Vandekift, Aaron Jefferson, and Ben Purcell, men of integrity and great strength, are just as engaging. They, too, battling the elements, lawlessness, and life on the plains, not only find themselves, but also discover what it means to be a man of God.  Through unwitting circumstances, all six characters realize that it is time to start living as daughters (and sons) of the king.”

A great read for history and romance buffs, alike I highly recommend “A Daughter’s Quest” by Lena Nelson Dooley, “Tara’s Gold” by Lisa Harris, and “Better Than Gold” by Laurie Alice Eakes.  Highly entertaining, descriptive, with extremely likeable characters, one gets a sense of what it must have been like to live in the Midwest in the late 1800’s. A must read for fans of Christian romance as well as lovers of history.

Marty Norman is an author, speaker and monthly columnist for several webzines. G – Advice for Savvy Grandmothers Who Will Never Go Gray is a featured book in The Great Escape 2009. You can find out more about her at http://www.martynorman.com.