Laurel's Dream

GIVEAWAY
RANDOM RETRO RE-READ DAY!

BASHAM, PEPPER

LAUREL'S DREAM

Journey into the Blue Ridge Mountains of 1918 where Laurel McAdams endures the challenges of a hard life while dreaming things can eventually improve. But trouble arrives in the form of an outsider. Having failed his British father again, Jonathan Taylor joins his uncle's missionary endeavours as a teacher in a two-room schoolhouse. Laurel feels compelled to protect the tenderhearted teacher from the harsh realities of Appalachian life, even while his stories of life outside the mountains pull at Laurel's imagination. Faced with angry parents over teaching methods, Laurel's father's drunken rages, and bad news from England, will Jonathan have to leave and never return, or will he stay and let love bloom?

My Review:

published in 2019

A reread for me and it's just as good the second time around.

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"Dream, girl, but trust God to take better care of your dreams than you ever could." (p 139)

Sometimes you come across a book that defies description and this is one of them. I've been grappling with words that won't come because I don't think anything I say can do justice to the depth and breadth and overall bookiliciousness of Laurel's Dream.

I wish I had Laurel's 'lyrical phrasing' to help me. "She's always got the mullygrubs but down deep she's as soft as fresh biscuits." (p 113) But any attempts to wax poetic have fallen embarrassingly short so I'm not sharing them here! Just know that this is the kind of story you live through with all your senses. The kind that carries you away so completely that it's hard to pull out of. And, if someone or something does manage to haul you back to your sorry 21st century reality, you will be utterly discombobulated for awhile...in fact the disorientation will likely last until you can slip back to Basham's mountain setting again.

This is such a sublime read I can't even...head thunking on desk...I have no words!

Laurel charmed me -- she's bewitching and beguiling and exuberant and hopeful. Steadied by her faith and a mountain folk practicality that captivated me. And she loves books!!! "If a book comes by, any book, I'm obliged to give it my attention." (p 72) How can you not love a heroine like that?!

And Jonathan is an intriguing mix of noble and broken and searching. He comes to this Appalachian community with an open heart and the desire to not only teach, but learn as well. And then the story unfolds -- only you forget it's a story -- you feel like you are living their lives right along with them and every day is an adventure so epic and elemental and true that it takes your breath away.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a gently read paperback. (it's been carefully resting in a glass-fronted bookcase but now that it's on audible ...)

If you would like a chance to win a copy of Laurel's Dream, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoread AT yahoo DOT ca. If you add your email to a comment, remember to use AT AND DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday January 22 2022. Offer open to International Readers. Good luck