Elinor Florence

Molly Bannister's life is unraveling. She has lost her job with an accounting firm in AZ, and her savings is dwindling fast. As a single parent, she is almost in panic mode when she receives word from a lawyer that her great-aunt left her a farm and house in northern Alberta, Canada. The will stipulates that she has to live on the old homestead for a full year before gaining ownership. With money dwindling and no other options, Molly and her 4-year old daughter Bridget move to Canada. The old farmhouse has been watched over by neighbors since her great-aunt went into a nursing home. Other than a lot of dust and cobwebs, it's not in bad shape. But there is no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no internet, no phone, and the closest neighbor is 8 miles away. 365 days -- can they brave an entire year on the old homestead? Molly finds her great-aunt's journal and reads a little bit about her early married life each night before going to bed. She finds strength and wisdom in the pages, and learns a lot about herself as well.

I absolutely loved this book! At first Molly comes to Wildwood out of desperation. She has nowhere else to go. She counts the days until she can sell the farm and return to the United States with plenty of money to live life on her own terms. But, living out at the old homestead without any of the modern conveniences, reading her great-aunt's journal, and learning to survive has such a profound effect on her life and her daughter. She scrubs the house clean, learns to cook, wash laundry by hand and make do with what they have. Along the way, she discovers that she is a stronger person than she ever realized.

Once I started reading, I couldn't put this book down! I loved how Molly grew stronger and defeated the demons from her past as the story unfolded. As her mother became a stronger person, Bridget's life and behavior also improved. I enjoyed this story so much that I definitely want to read Elinor Florence's other novel, Bird's Eye View.

**I voluntarily read an advance readers copy of this book from Dundurn via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**
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Wildwood by Elinore Florence

Molly is down on her luck with time running out when a fortuitous inheritance finds its way to her. The only glitch is that she has to live on the land for a year. Where is the land? Way up north in Canada where it gets very very cold indeed! Living in a home built in the early 1920’s might not sound horrible BUT the house has not been lived in for decades, has no indoor plumbing, is without electricity and relies on wood for heating and cooking. Molly has four year old daughter with issues but still…she believes that living in the house is her only recourse so…off she goes.

This is a story of hardship in the present interwoven with the diary entries of Molly’s great aunt who actually moved to the land and settled it with her husband nearly 100 years before. The difficulties both faced were often similar and Molly took courage from what she read in her aunt’s journal.

I have always liked stories of the past, what it was like to live in such times and how people managed. I once asked my mother what it must be like to be a pioneer and she told me that living in a country with unreliable electricity, water supply and such put me on par with people living in the past…at least part of the time.

The story is well told and done in a way that the reader almost feels they are there. The issues faced were real and made me wonder “what if” – I enjoyed the story and was thankful that all worked out for Molly and her daughter in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dundurn for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars… (más)