"Through Rushing Water" by Catherine Richmond

Through Rushing Water
Author: Catherine Richmond
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Paperback: 368 pages
ISBN-13: 978-1595549259

About the Book:

Sophia has her life all planned out—but her plan didn’t include being jilted or ending up in Dakota Territory.

Sophia Makinoff is certain that 1876 is the year that she’ll become the wife of a certain US Congressman, and happily plans her debut into the Capitol city. But when he proposes to her roommate instead, Sophia is stunned. Hoping to flee her heartache and humiliation, she signs up with the Board of Foreign Missions on a whim.

With dreams of a romantic posting to the Far East, Sophia is dismayed to find she’s being sent to the Ponca Indian Agency in the bleak Dakota Territory. She can’t even run away effectively and begins to wonder how on earth she’ll be able to guide others as a missionary. But teaching the Ponca children provides her with a joy she has never known—and never expected—and ignites in her a passion for the people she’s sent to serve.

It’s a passion shared by the Agency carpenter, Willoughby Dunn, a man whose integrity and selflessness are unmatched. The Poncas are barely surviving. When U.S. policy decrees that they be uprooted from their land and marched hundreds of miles away in the middle of winter, Sophia and Will wade into rushing waters to fight for their friends, their love, and their destiny.

My Thoughts:

"Through Rushing Water" is a well written and emotionally charged historical novel that is sure to hold the reader's interest from beginning to end. The characters are wonderfully portrayed and so very realistic and will capture your heart as they take you through the time when the US government treated Indians shamefully - something that's not usually found in a piece of historical fiction!

This novel focuses on the Ponca Indians in the Dakota Territory and how they were treated. When Sophia Makinoff is sent there as a missionary, she was just biding time until she would transfer to the Far East. She had no idea that her destiny held something that would challenge and change her and yet give her a wonderful gift of purpose and happiness. One of my favorite characters, Sophia is one of those that is sure to stick with me for a long time.

Make sure to add this book to you must reads list, as it truly is one you MUST read!! This one comes highly recommended!

I received this book through the Booksneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review, but instead, one that gives my honest opinion.