* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and have not been influenced by this arrangement. *

2.5 stars.

I wanted to like this one more than I did and I pushed through to make it to the end. There are snippets of wonderful story in here, the writing is good, and the characters really do start to become their own, however there are some things that detracted from my enjoyment.

The majority of the book is told in 3rd person. This works very well and is a comfortable writing style with good description. Every once in a while, though, this turns to 1st person for a couple of characters. These chapters felt out of place, didn't seem to add a lot to the story that couldn't have been done in 3rd person, and the shift in tone pulled me out of the story.

The novel primarily focuses on the Klar family. This is great. The family is dynamic and has a lot to bring to the table. But...once again, there are occasional derailments. Intermittently interspersed are edited newspaper articles from the time period as well as short stories about a man named Ola, who seems to have been a bit of a fabled character in Swede Hollow during this time period. These pieces, while interesting, do not fit with the story of the Klars and again steered me away from the story and distracted my reading.

Overall, I enjoyed learning about this bit of history, especially since it is relatively local to me. But the narrative seemed to plod along a bit more than it should have and a bit more cohesiveness could have gone a long way. There are fabulous pieces here and the start of a good, slow burn, family drama, it just wasn't up my alley.