Safe Haven

Susanna Thayer's life has changed since her father died. She knows that she, her mother, and her younger brother Georgie won't be able to live for very much younger on the little bit of money that they have left. She feels that the only option they have is for her to marry her friend from her childhood days Jonathon Burnley. He had proposed to her on her last birthday, so she sends him a letter telling him that she will happily accept his proposal. Unfortunately, his response is not a favorable one. He lets her know that he will be marrying a distant cousin to him very soon. Susanna has no idea what her small family will do, but one day she's given a flyer discussing women working in clothing mills, and she determines to "take life by the horns" and work in the mills to support herself and her family. In the mills she makes some good friends, including Jane, a young woman with no family left. Susanna and Jane become like family to each other, and risk the ire of the mill management by joining a new faith, the Mormon faith. They are soon fired because of their faith and they make their way to New York to join the group of saints sailing on the Brooklyn to California and a new life. But that new life isn't quite what either Jane or Susanna would have imagined. 

I really enjoyed reading this book. I like reading about strong women characters who do everything they can to make their own dreams come true. I loved the character of Susanna and seeing life through her eyes. I loved the strength that she showed through all of her trials. I really enjoyed "seeing" how life would have been aboard the Brooklyn as the Saints traveled to the new land of California. The ending was better than I could have imagined it to be at the start of the book!

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