The Reapers’ Song

Description

They held fast to their dream, they tamed the prairie land, and now they can join in… The Reapers’ Song. Ever so slowly the Dakota Territory is being transformed from a vast prairie into rich farmlands. Finally the Bjorklund family and their neighbors are reaping the promised harvest that had drawn them from their homes in Norway to cross the Atlantic. With the coming of the railroad and shipments of wheat to larger markets, the small town of Blessing begins to prosper in 1886. But for Ingeborg, Haaken, and their children, the challenges still remain to accomplish their dreams. With the wheat harvest in full swing, the older boys in the community leave school to help in the fields, and the girls stay home to help cook. After the Bjorklunds’ fields are harvested, Haaken and the neighboring men take the steam engine and the separator on the road, threshing for other homesteaders in return for a portion of their grain. With Haaken away and the fields standing idle, Ingeborg fears an early change of season and refuses to wait for him to return to finish the heavy fall work. Will she regret taking the team to the field herself? Has she made a mistake in hiring the mysterious young man who arrived so opportunely? Has the Land Become More Important to Ingeborg Than her Own Family?