AUTHOR: Christina Miller, Johnnie Alexander, Lauralee Bliss, Ramona K. Cecil, Rita Gerlach, Sherri Wilson Johnson, Rose Allen McCauley
DATE: 2019
PUBLISHER: Barbour Books
STARS: *****
Seven romance stories take you back to the building of the Erie Canal and the opening of the Midwest to greater development.
Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River, and soon other states like Ohio created canals linking Lake Erie to the Ohio River. Suddenly the Midwest was open to migration, the harvesting of resources, and even tourism. Join seven couples who live through the rise of the canals and the problems the waterways brought to each community, including land grabs, disease, tourists, racism, and competition. Can these couples hang on to their faith and develop love during times of intense change?
I don’t always read historical novels, but when I do, I truly enjoy ones that teach me something. This collection, with seven stories of different sections of the Erie Canal, from its beginning to after completion, taught me a great deal. From the work of agents hired to convince their neighbors to sell their land for the canal, to the dangerous health hazards for those building it, and the prejudices stirred up by the arrival of builders and returnees, this collection holds a wealth of real history. I appreciated learning about the Separatists, a sect I hadn’t heard of before, and I cheered for brave Abolitionists, especially in the face of the dangers brought by the despicable Bloodhound Law, as well as heroes who returned to a home where they’d experienced heartbreak.
The Erie Canal Brides Collection taught and entertained me, and it earns five stars. Recommended.