52 Books in 52 Weeks: Books 3 & 4: "Her Mother's Hope" & "Her Daughter's Dream" by Francine Rivers

My original intention was to review each of these books individually.  In fact, I started the year with a goal to review each book I read before I allowed myself to pick up and begin reading another.  So much for that. When I finished "Her Mother's Hope", "Her Daughter's Dream" was sitting right there, waiting for me to pick it up. If you've read these books, you know the story really flows from one to the other.  In fact, when Francine Rivers began writing this series, she intended to write one book, but the project grew larger than she expected. And I think she could easily have made it even longer.


As the saga begins we meet Marta, a young girl growing up in  Steffisburg, Switzerland at the turn of the 20th century. She desperately wants to continue to go to school, but her strict and (by today's standards) abusive father believes girls do not need schooling and forces her to quit school and work to support the family.  Marta's mother wants to see Marta live out her dreams, but is unwilling to stand up to her husband. Marta sees this as a weakness in her mother that she is determined not to repeat in her own life.  Eventually, Marta finds a way to leave home and, as her mother had encouraged her, "Fly!"  As we follow Marta across the Atlantic to Canada, and then eventually to America, the reader can see clearly how the dynamics of her family and the way she interpreted her parents' relationship effect her life decisions and her own marriage.  Her mother's coddling of her weak sister (which was, in Marta's eyes, the reason for her sister's tragic death) influences Marta to be hard on her weak, sickly daughter Hildemara.  Hildemara's story begins in "Her Mother's Hope", and continues into "Her Daughter's Dream".


Because Marta has always been harder on Hildemara than her other children, Hildemara thinks Marta doesn't love her.  They have a very hard time overcoming the tension in their relationship.  As Hilde grows, this impacts the relationships she forms with her husband and children. When a severe bout of tuberculosis leaves Hildemara quarantined to her room, Marta comes to help her husband Trip care for the children. The story shifts to the perspective of Hildemara's young daughter Carolyn, who doesn't understand why Mommy has to be shut away.  Daddy and Grandma can go in there.  Why can't she? One day Carolyn picks some flowers for Mommy and sneaks into her room unnoticed and everyone gets very upset. Mommy must not love her anymore.


It is fascinating as you read these to books to see that the relationships in Martas family of origin and how she reacted to them reverberated through generations after her. Francine Rivers states in her notes that some of the materials for these stories were inspired by events from her own family history. In particular, she was trying to explore something that had caused a rift between her mother and her grandmother. Whatever she managed to find, she turned out two fantastic novels.


Write the review before I pick up another book to read?  What WAS I thinking?


Sojourner