Book Review: Longing For Home, by Sarah M. Eden.
Katie Macauley has seen poverty, starvation, death, cold, and the cruelty of mankind in her young life, yet she possesses great courage and determination. Carrying the fiddle she stole from her father, Katie arrives in the frontier Wyoming town of Hope Springs with one object in mind: she must earn the money to go back to Ireland and make amends for the terrible mistakes she made as an eight year old child during the Hunger. As she struggles to find work and a place for herself, she finds that the town is divided down the middle between the Green (Irish) and the Reds (everyone else), and violence constantly threatens to erupt. Two men seek for her heart. Widowed Joseph Archer is a wealthy landowner who hires her as a housekeeper and hopes that she will come to care for him and his little daughters. Honorable and kind, Joseph came to this valley seeking peace, but instead he is constantly put in the role of peacemaker between the two warring factions. Then there is the handsome Tavish O’Connor, who hides his sorrows beneath his charm and overwhelms Katie with jokes, teasing, and stories. Katie likes both men, but how can she even think of love when she must gain her father’s forgiveness?
I have enjoyed all of Sarah M. Eden’s Regency Romances, but this American historical romance was deeper and more serious, and it touched my heart. Sarah captured the lilt of Irish conversation, and I enjoyed the wit and tenderness that the characters revealed. I also loved how music is woven throughout the book. The story continues in book #2, Hope Springs.
Carol Nicolas 