Tracie Peterson, The Hope Within

Tracie Peterson, The Hope Within - In 1886, a fire burns down the Diamond V ranch house and several other facilities forcing the Selby family to relocate to nearby Virginia City, Montana Territory. Dianne Selby hates living in town, but her spouse Cole keeps delaying their return with one pretext after another.

Cole learns that his father Hallam is dying, so he, Dianne and their children travel to Kansas to say their last respects, starting with his dad meeting his wife and grandchildren for the first time and helping his mother Mary cope with her loss and work the farm. Upon completing the trek, Mary sets the tone, greeting Dianne about never visiting when her spouse was healthy. After Hallam dies, Mary pressures Cole to run the family farm he inherited while remaining nasty towards his wife and children; Dianne decides to end her cruelty to her grandchildren by taking them with her and going home though it means deserting her husband.

The final, inspirational, historical novel in the Heirs of Montana quartet, THE HOPE WITHIN, is a terrific family drama that vividly portrays late-nineteenth-century life on the Great Prairie, especially in Montana and Kansas. The storyline is character and geographical-climatic driven as the audience obtains a taste of the era through simple, interwoven into the plot nuances; for instance, Cole's parents and his wife and children never met before implies distance (communication and transportation). Fans will cherish the finale as the extended cast provides depth and Dianne sees hope that her husband will come back to her and their children as THE HOPE WITHIN her remains strong because of her belief in God.

Bethany, Mar 2005, $12.99, 400 pp.

ISBN: 0764227726

Harriet Klausner