What do You think about The Long Way Home (2001)?
The final book in the Secret Refuge series continues where the 2nd left off. We find Jesse still on the wagon train for Oregon, wondering just how much she can trust the new wagon master and Louisa still in Virginia plotting ways to help the cause and the wounded soldiers she has in her care. Zachary has things up his sleeve that she knows nothing about. We hear a bit more of Carrie in this book but Louisa and Jesse still are the main characters.I enjoyed this whole series and the author had me their in the civil war right along with her characters.
—Andrea Byers
I thoroughly enjoyed this 3 book series. I was so sad to have it be all done. This was book 3 of Lauraine Snelling's A Secret Refuge series. This book picked up right where book 2 had left off while still bringing readers who hadn't read the last book in a while (or at all) up to date with the story line. The story kept me involved and interested until the very end. The only thing I didn't like was the way the last few chapters skipped thru many years very quickly while the rest of the book seemed to go into much more detail. Even so, it did not leave you hanging about most of the characters and tied up all the loose ends pretty well.As usual, Lauraine Snelling's work did not fail to keep me on my toes while thoroughly enjoying the entire book as well as the two former ones in the series.
—Joanne
The Highwood family of Twin Oaks, Kentucky. All started with a strong faith in God, but the terrors of the Civil War test them sorely. Yet one by one, can they face their fears and choose to trust that God will never leave them or forsake them? The author frequently reminds us this war was about putting an end to judging people by the color of their skin, white or black or "red". We meet wise and kind people from each race, and scoundrels are not limited by color either. The sisters learn that there are horrors on both sides ... Instead of praying for the Confederacy to win, they learn to pray the war will end. Lauraine Snelling writes a compelling story, giving me interesting insights into this time. Who knew that women could knit as they walked alongside the wagons on the wagon trains?? I loved reading about how the travelers survived, living off the land, and overcoming so much. I cried with the deaths, hoped for reconciliation, and longed for each person to find love. Spoiler alert!! Jesselynn - trying to escape the War, she is headed west on the Oregon Trail, leading her "family" - her young brother, Thaddeus, elderly Aunt Agatha, several former slaves and the last of the thorobreds from Twin Oaks. The responsibilities on her shoulders are overwhelming. Life takes several twists and her family ends up with Gray Wolf Torstead in Sioux country, Wyoming. Louisa - sent to Richmond at the beginning of the war, trying to help wounded soldiers, even making daring trips into enemy territory to get medicine for the wounded. Will she ever have a chance for love and marriage? Carrie Mae - spoiled, not deliberately unkind, but thoughtless & self-absorbed. Zachary - wounded and bitter, he cannot accept help and would rather be dead. I will continue to choose Lauraine Snelling's books!
—Susie
