the Friday 56/Tomorrow is a River/book review

It's Friday and time for Freda's 56

Stop and visit her blog and check out the other snippets from page 56 of the books we are reading.

p.56 "At eventide they hit a rock and the lead canoe was tipped over. Kemink, who had changed into buckskins for the trip, leaped onto the rock; but Caroline, less agile in her long skirts and petticoats, sank slowly with the canoe."

This book, published in 1977, is co authored by Peggy Hanson Dopp and Barbara Fitz Vroman. Tomorrow is a River was recommended to me by a friend many years ago, I read it and loved it and was fortunate enough to find the book in an antique store so I purchased it. It is one of the books I kept when I purged my bookshelves.

A young minister, who is very full of himself, moves his wife and young son into the wilderness in central Wisconsin on the Tomorrow river in the pre-civil war days. The young wife, Caroline, finds a friend in the Indian woman who is married to a white man. Their 2 sons are close in age and become fast friends. When Adam leaves Caroline she is determined to stay and make a good life for her little family. This book follows the lives of Caroline and her friend Kemink as they live off the land and face many struggles that the early settlers faced in the days preceding the civil war. There is a lot of history here. For instance-did you know that the Peshigo fire was at the same time as the great Chicago fire? Everyone knows about the Chicago fire but between 1,200 and 2,400 people died in the Peshtigo Fire and the death toll in Chicago was about 250.

The reason I love the book is because it is about Wisconsin and mentions many areas that I am familiar with. My daughter lives on the Tomorrow river! My 12 year old grandson is an avid reader and I am urging him to read it.....maybe I'll let him keep the book, with the promise that if he gets rid of it I get it back!

Yes, you should read this!