Lauraine Snelling

Traveling from Norway to North Dakota to join her family, Augusta Bjorklund misunderstands the directions of a ticket agent in St. Paul, Minnesota, and arrives at the end of the line to be met by a handsome young rancher who is expecting his Norwegian mail-order bride.

First the Land, Then Fire Nearly Destroys Them. Will They Still Hold to their Dream? It had taken four long, difficult years to tame the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. Looking back through all the heartache and the body-breaking labor, Ingeborg Bjorkland knew that God had been with them every step of the way. Dreams that had turned into veritable nightmares had been reshaped with the promise of a new day rising, and her marriage to Haaken had...

The dream of their own farmstead and a good life in America had brought Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund across the Alantic to pioneer the virgin prairie of Dakota Territory. But Roald's tragic disappearance in a winter storm had turned Ingeborg's dreams into a living nightmare. Against nearly impossible circumstance and overwhelming grief, she struggles to keep the farm and her family together. When spring appears, Raold's distant cousin, Haakan arrives...

In the first decade of the twentieth century, "Miriam is in Blessing [N.D.] to get practical training to become an accredited nurse. She's been promised a position in the Chicago women's hospital that will enable her to support her siblings and her ailing mother. Although eager to return to her family, Miriam is surprised to find how much she enjoys the small town of Blessing. And her growing attachment to Trygve soon has her questioning a future...

Is She Really Leaving Forever? Tracing the difficulties and joys of carving out a life from the Dakota sod in the second half of the 800s, Tender Mercies continues Snelling's Red River saga and will pull your heartstrings and make you feel the joys and frustrations of life on the open lands of the 9th century mid-west. The rich farmlands of the Dakota Territory in 1887 are finally beginning to yield the abundant harvest the pioneers had dreamed about...

Proud of Their Heritage and Sustained by Their Faith, They Came to Tame a New Land She had promised herself that once they left the fjords of Norway, she would not look back. After three long years of scrimping and saving to buy tickets for their passage to America, Roald and Ingeborg Bjorklund, along with their son, Thorliff, finally arrive at the docks of New York City. It was the promise of free land that fed their dream and lured them from their...

"In 1910, Signe, her husband, and their boys emigrate from Norway to Minnesota, dreaming of one day owning a farm of their own. But the relatives they've come to stay with are harsh and demanding. As Signe's family is worked to the bone to repay the cost of their voyage, can she learn to trust God through this trial and hold on to hope for a better future?"--

"With her younger brother Ivar in tow, Nilda Carlson is on her way to join her older brother Rune and his family in the northern forest of Minnesota. Rune and Signe Carlson are thrilled that they are coming, but life on the Strand farm remains a struggle. Rune is trying to build a house for his wife and children, but Uncle Einar Strand, obsessed with his own ambitions, refuses to help and forbids anyone from the community to step foot on his land,...

After two long years, hardworking dairy farmer Andrew Bjorklund is thrilled to see his fiancee Ellie Wold again. But when materials to build their new home are delayed, Andrew grudgingly postpones the wedding. While Ellie works at the post office, Andrew finishes their new barn. Soon a tragedy threatens their future and forces them to fully rely upon God.

With a secretive widow, a love-struck cowboy and a suspicious rancher standing in her way, Cassie Lockwood struggles to fulfill her father's dream of starting a horse ranch among the Black Hills of South Dakota.