Book Review - The Icecutter's Daughter by Tracie Peterson

 The Icecutter's Daughter

by Tracie Peterson

This is the first in the series, Land of Shining Water, and what a good start it was! 

In the frigid wilderness of Minnesota, the Krause family’s business was cutting ice from the lake to sell.  With their big Belgian horses, Merrill, the only daughter, and her father and brothers worked hard in the cold for their business to survive.  Merrill worked as hard as the men in the stables, on the ice, and in the house and was somewhat of a tomboy, much to the chagrin of Grandma Lassiter.  Merrill, however, saw it as fulfilling a promise she had made to her mother when her mother was dying to take care of her brothers and father.  Unfortunately, that left little time for Merrill to find a suitor and her brothers intimidated any who did come around.

When Rurik Jorgenson arrived from Kansas to help out his sickly uncle in his woodworking business, Merrill felt the possibility of a relationship.  However, when Rurik’s former fiancee, Svea, and her brother, Nils, surprisingly appeared in Minnesota, claiming that Svea was pregnant with Rurik’s child, Merrill began to doubt Rurik’s truthfulness and integrity.  How can Rurik handle this when he knows Svea is lying, but so many townspeople believe her?  Can he convince Merrill that he is the one telling the truth?

Tracie Peterson’s books are always such a pleasure to read.  Her characters are so believeable and the time periods and places so well researched.  She is a master of intertwining cultural traditions into the story, in this case both Swedish and German.  Her spiritual references are seamlessly woven into the story as the characters struggled to trust God’s plans for their lives.  This book places a strong emphasis on family and the strong relationships built on helping one another.  Just a pleasure to read from first page to last. 

I look forward to the next book in the series, The Quarryman’s Bride.

Tracie Peterson

 This book was provided to me by Bethany House Publishing for my review.  The opinions expressed are solely my own.