A Song Of Joy by Lauraine Snelling

A Song Of Joy is a return to 1911 Blackduck MN. I have greatly enjoyed reading about the Carlson family as I live about a 100 miles north of Blackduck and I often drive through on my way to Bemidji. I love the characters that Ms. Snelling has created. it is fascinating to read of the struggles of the Scandinavians who settled this area.  Nilda Carlson is a strong Norwegian immigrant who is struggling to find her place in a new world. She is fortunate to have a sponsor in Mrs. Schoenleber, who has not only employed her, but has offered friendship as well. I highly recommend Ms. Snelling's Under Northern Skies series along with the Red River Valley series. So grab a cup of Coffee and a few ginger cookies then settle in for a great read!

I was  given a copy of this book by NetGalley.com with no expectations. All thoughts are my own.

From Amazon:

In Minnesota in 1911, Nilda Carlson is torn between society life in the city of Blackduck and spending time with her family back home on the farm. Her employer, Mrs. Schoenleber, gives her more and more responsibility and experience, including recommending new opportunities for her philanthropy. Still new to America herself, Nilda focuses on the area's immigrant community, but she'll have to fight to get her ideas accepted by the locals and donors alike.

In the meantime, one of her greatest joys is her weekly piano lesson with the handsome schoolteacher, Fritz. But just as Nilda is beginning to realize she has feelings for him, a stylish, affluent young woman moves to Blackduck and monopolizes Fritz's attention. With her humble background, how can Nilda hope to compete with such a sophisticated beauty?

About the author:

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Biography

Award-winning and best selling author Lauraine Snelling began living her dream to be a writer with her first published book for young adult readers, Tragedy on the Toutle, in 1982. She has since continued writing more horse books for young girls, adding historical and contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adults and young readers to her repertoire. All told, she has over eighty books published with more than 4 million copies in print.


Shown in her contemporary romances and women’s fiction, a hallmark of Lauraine’s style is writing about real issues of forgiveness, loss, domestic violence, and cancer within a compelling story. Her work has been translated into Norwegian, Danish, and German, and she has won the Romantic Times Career Achievement award for Inspirational Fiction, the Silver Angel Award for An Untamed Land and a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart for Song of Laughter. 


As a sought after speaker, Lauraine encourages others to find their gifts and live their lives with humor and joy. Her readers clamor for more books more often, and Lauraine would like to comply ... if only her paintbrushes and easel didn’t call quite so loudly.

Lauraine and her husband, Wayne, have two grown sons, and live in the Tehachapi Mountains with a watchdog Basset named Winston. They love to travel, most especially in their forty-foot motor coach, which they affectionately deem “a work in progress”