When Hope Springs New by Janette Oke

This was a lovely continuation of Oke's Canadian West series. It starts perhaps a few days/weeks off from the last book.

Elizabeth and Wynn are traveling even further North to a more remote village. When they reach there Elizabeth is dismayed to find that no one will talk to her and hardly look at her. Despite her best efforts to find friends, she cannot. The house they live in is also little more than a shack.

She spends the first Autumn, Winter, and most of Spring by herself. Then, one day while Wynn is away a fire sweeps through the village. It is up to Elizabeth to organize something as everyone else is in a panic.

After the devastating fire, Wynn receives orders that they can no longer stay there. They are instead moved to the town of Athabasca Landing. This place is modern and after years of living in the wilderness, Elizabeth is amazed at all the amenities. She soon finds herself being a part of the church and people, and she and Wynn even take in a troubled boy named Henry. Her adventures have been toned down until Wynn receives his next assignment.

Since Oke's is a Christian writer I"ll touch a bit on the religious element of this book. There isn't too much. While she makes mention here and there of asking for help from God or guidance, most of the time she shows the Christian attitude through action.

Like most of her writings, there is nothing offensive to be found in this book. No strong language or harsh descriptions. We see the year through Elizabeth's eyes and since she is a calm character, the book is serene. The characters are all believable as Oke takes the time to go into their thoughts and actions. We can see that the Native Americans have spiritual beliefs and we can see Elizabeth's impatience. This makes them more real to me. Nobody is perfect or complete, they all have human qualities.

This novel moved quite a bit faster than the other ones did. While it only covered a year, it seemed that the story went by extremely quickly. The time spent in the village was not as much as I thought it would be until they moved on to the next town.

This is a good book to read anytime. I actually read it while waking up from anesthesia so it isn't too hard to understand! The storyline is simple and just brings a nice addition to the rest of the Delaney's story.

When Hope Springs New
Copyright 1986
308 pages (Large Print Book)