"A Home in Drayton Valley" by Kim Vogel Sawyer

A Home in Drayton Valley by Kim Vogel Sawyer


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Novel written by Kim Vogel Sawyer "A Home in Drayton Valley"

Fed up with the poor quality of life in 1880 New York, Tarsie Raines encourages her friends Joss and Mary Brubacher to move with their two children to Drayton Valley, Kansas, a booming town hailed in the guidebook as the land of opportunity. She offers to help with expenses and to care for Mary and the children as they travel west by wagon train. But when tragedy strikes on the trip across the prairie, Tarsie is thrown into an arrangement with Joss that leaves both of them questioning God and their dreams for the future. As their funds dwindle and nothing goes as planned, will Tarsie and Joss give up and go their separate ways, or will God use their time in Drayton Valley to turn their hearts toward him?

I enjoyed reading this story of Tarsie, she was so tired of living in a crowded dirty city and yearned for wide open spaces knowing it would be a better life. Tarsie met Mary Brubacher and her little family and fell in love with all but the husband Joss who was a gambler-a drinker-a mean tempered man who did not have a belief in God and barely tolerated his family.
Mary had been so sick and Tarsie had helped as much as she could with her herbs but when she found a booklet in the streets telling of Kansas and the lands available there she knew that Mary could get better were she to live in a place like that, so she planted a seed in Mary's heart to go on a wagon train and find a better life.
Soon Mary had talked Joss into the trip and they headed west taking Tarsie along to help with the children.
Along the way Mary's health worsened and knowing she would not live much longer she talked to Tarsie and asked her to take care of her family after she was gone-ALL her family Joss too-she asked that Tarsie love and care for them - Tarsie promised because she loved Mary so much...
Tarsie loves the Lord and prays that God will help her to love this man and his children after Mary is gone. Mary lived long enough to see the Kansas land and then died.
Do you think you could have done as Tarsie did and ask Joss to marry you so you could raise Mary's children and hope in time you would learn to love this rough tough man...this is a wonderful story telling of how a life can change so drastically when God is in the center of it. It told of the colored folks living in a vinyard near town and how predudice between blacks&whites was prevelent at the era this story was written. Joss family hated blacks and now Joss was seeing firsthand how they were just regular folks like himself trying to make a living and loving the same Lord that all did.
Will an agreement between Joss and Tarsie hurt or help them as they become closer after time spent together. Read and enjoy how a family comes together from trajedy.

I was given this book by Bethany House Publishing for an honest review, thank you....




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