Echoes of Forgotten Places by Helen Wand

• Echoes of Forgotten Places
• Author: Helen Wand
• Website: Helen Wand Books
• ASIN: ‎ B09QC4RPK2
• Publisher : ‎ Luminare Press
• Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
• Publication Date: ‎ Jan. 12 2022
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1643885957
• Genre: General fiction – historical

Book Description (Amazon.ca)

The year is 1897. Julianna Lampert and her eight children depend on the family working the farm—recently cleared soil on land so rugged and windswept it defies their very existence. Join the family’s journey, from grieving their father’s passing and the death of their baby brother, to the arrival of Frank, who strikes a bargain with Julianna, a widow desperate to save her homestead.
Follow the Lampert family and their neighbors into the twentieth century, amidst a tragic drowning, disastrous blizzard, and a fire that demolishes a town—devastations tempered with romance and marriage. All the while, their remote, isolated Pleasant View community is transformed: brought into the modern era by the horseless carriage, telephone, women’s right to vote—and the neighbor’s still.

My Thoughts

Ms. Helen Wand is a new to me author and the synopsis for the novel pique my interest. Historical novels are not my usual genre but something about it spoke to me. It was well written and to be honest, I thought it was a memoir of her family. The storyline was very compelling, the characters relatable. The struggles Julianna went through with her husband dying and having to raise the kids on her own along with running a farm in a year where that was just not heard of, I was in awe.

As I read the story, it brought me to that time. I was there sitting on the fence watching the story unfold, cheering on from the sidelines, yelling at the characters, telling them what Julianna had because it was relatable. I loved how each character had a story within the story, you knew how each sibling lived and in the end what happen. That was part of the reason I thought it was a memoir.

The one struggle I had, was the length. I usually don’t read too many 500 page novels and was the primary reason it took me a while to finish. It had nothing to do with the story itself as once I got in deeper into the story, the pages started turning faster. She did a great job of describing the time, the seasons, the roads and for that I truly loved this historical fiction.

Rating: 4

Reviewed by: KellyR.