Tomorrow's Treasure, by Linda Lee Chaikin

This book is the first in a trilogy about the late 1800s when South Africa was being explored for its diamond and gold mines. The story follows a family heavily involved in diamonds and the scandals and society that surrounded the mines. The main character in this book is a girl who was orphaned during a Zulu uprising and then sent to England to grow up as a vicar's daughter.

This is another author from the Christian genre that is worth reading. A very interesting story line, lots of intrigue, etc--left me wanting to read the rest of the books in the series (I'm now in the middle of the second book, Yesterday's Promise.

Mrs. Mike

Benedick & Nancy Freedman originally published this book in the 40s. It's about a girl from Boston who left home at age 16 and married a Canadian mountie, who took her to live in the far north of Canada.

The story tells of all sorts of harrowing experiences in very untamed country at the turn of the century. The style of writing was interesting in that it didn't take much time for reflection until the very end, so the book moves quickly. It's a sweet love story but is also filled with tragedy. I recommend reading it.

Hmmm this isn't a very good review either, but it's a book worth reading (if you can find it, since it's probably been out of print since the 70s).

A Long, Long Time Ago & Essentially True

by Brigid Pasulka. Several times I thought about putting this book down, because of frequent crudeness, but I persisted and really did enjoy the book, and the last bit of the story brought me to tears. It's about the people in a little village in Poland, beginning before WWII and jumps back and forth to the present time.

The Apothecary's Daughter

Julie Klassen wrote this book, set in the early 1800s. In a lot of ways it's a typical romance from that time period, with one girl trying to decide between her many suitors. But, there is also the struggle of a young girl trying to keep her father's apothecary going in the face of a culture that doesn't approve of women accomplishing anything in the medical field. I especially enjoyed reading details about outdated medical treatments (leeches, blood-letting, etc.) and the tensions between physicians and apothecaries.

I was a little annoyed to keep coming across typos--sentences that didn't read smoothly because of missed, added, or changed words.

I would rate this worth reading, especially if you're looking for a clean historical romance that has only the slightest hints of religion in it.