Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers is the sequel to Her Mother’s Hope, which I reviewed earlier here. Though you could say the main subject of both books is mother-daughter conflict, that statement hardly does the books justice.

In the first book, Marta escapes an abusive father to make a life for herself in America with grit and hard work. When her daughter, Hildemara, is born early, sickly, and frail, Marta’s memories of her fragile sister, Elise, and her untimely end make Marta determined that Hildie will grow up strong. Hildie does survive but views her mother’s tough-love as a lack of love, and she leaves home to pursue a dream she loves that her mother initially hates.

At the opening of Her Daughter’s Dream, Hildie is gravely ill and reluctantly allows her husband to call her mother for help. Hildie’s daughter, Carolyn, has experienced trauma unknown to Hildie, but as Oma Marta comes, Carolyn’s nightmares stop and she bonds with Marta during Hildie’s illness, adding to the rift in their relationship. As Carolyn grows up feeling she will never measure up enough to earn her mother’s approval, she drops out of college with free-spirited roommate Chel to protest the war and experience the counter-culture of the 60s. She comes home a few years later lost, broken, and pregnant. As her mother takes care of her daughter, May Flower Dawn, they bond closely, making Carolyn once again feel left out. But as Dawn grows up, she begins to wonder how all these fractured relationships can be healed and prays and works to that end.

As I said with the first book, you just ache with these people for the mistakes that they make and the pain they experience. I envision each woman with her arms wrapped around herself: Marta’s in fear of loss, Hildie’s in bitterness, Carolyn’s in a self-protective cocoon. But when one’s arms are wrapped around oneself, they are not open to other people or to fully receiving all the Lord has in store. Though each woman has faith in God, during major parts of her life she is not actively trusting Him. This really spoke to me about the dangers of grasping self-protection and the need to let go and trust God for the protection that only He can provide.

I enjoyed how Francine Rivers set each generation and its relationship issues in context in its historical setting. This is a wonderfully written epic story.

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Wow, I can’t believe I forgot this again until I saw it at Janet’s!

Here’s what I have finished since last time:

Emma by Jane Austen, reviewed here. A charming, beautiful, rich young woman tries her hand at matchmaking with dismal results — you could say that is the basic plot line, but the book is so much richer than that. Though I have seen it referred to as a comedy, I found much depth in Emma’s maturing. And her dear friend and sharpest critic, Mr. Knightly, lives up to his name as the quintessential English gentleman.

The Unfinished Gift and The Homecoming by Dan Walsh, reviewed here. The first book tells how a death, a war, a grandson, and a box of old letters bring an estranged father and son together; the second continues the story of their family, focusing on the son’s adjusting to life after the death of his wife and the journey of faith of the young woman he hires to be his son’s nanny. Both were great reads.

A Distant Melody by Sarah Sundin was reviewed here with the above two as they are all set in the WWII era and I read them one after the other. This was a delightful book of an ordinary, flawed couple who have various relationship problems when they meet (he can’t talk to girls, she is expected to marry a man her parents approve of but whom she does not love). They keep in contact with each other despite a series of misunderstandings and wartime complications.

Hoping for Something Better: Refusing to Settle for Life as Usual, a Bible study through the book of Hebrews by Nancy Guthrie, reviewed here. I cannot recommend this one highly enough. Excellent.

The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman, a story of “finding treasure in unexpected places,” reviewed here. On the very day a woman packs to leave her philandering husband, he comes home to announce he is dying and wants them to go to their coastal home for treatment, where she finds herself in a series of unexpected and difficult circumstances. I enjoyed her journey and her discoveries.

Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers, reviewed here. A mother’s tough-love attempts to raise her daughter to be strong are understood by the daughter as a lack of love, and their relationship problems affect future generations. Epic story against the backdrop of two world wars. Enjoyed it very much.

The Note by Angela Hunt, reviewed here. A short note of love and forgiveness washes up on the Florida coast after a terrible plane crash, and a newspaper columnist seeks for its intended recipient while being unexpectedly affected by its message herself. Loved it!

I am currently reading and almost finished with Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers, the sequel to Her Mother’s Hope, and am still working on Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. I got bogged down with that one and need to move it to the forefront and finish it.

Next I want to start one of the non-fiction books from my fall reading goals, either Start Somewhere: Losing What’s Weighing You Down from the Inside Out by Calvin Nowell and Gayla Zoz or I’m Outnumbered!: One Mom’s Lessons in the Lively Art of Raising Boys by Laura Lee Groves. I think next up after one of those will be Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent or The Thorn by Beverly Lewis.

Happy Reading!